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THE 


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HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


BY 


MRS. CORNELIUS. 





REVISED AND ENLARGED. 





BOSTON: 


BROWN, TAGGARD AND CHASE. 
[cee i he 


Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1859, by « 
M. H. CORNELIUS, 
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. — 


CAMBRIDGE: 


ALLEN AND FARNHAM, ELECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS. 





PREFACE. 


IN preparing this little volume, my aim has been to furnish 
to young housekeepers the best aid that a book can give in the 
departments of which it treats. No printed guide can perfectly 
supply the place of that experience which is gained by early 
and habitual attention to domestic concerns. But the directions 
here given are designed to be so minute, and of so practical a 
character, that the observance of them shall prevent very many 
of the perplexities which most young people suffer during their 
first years of married life. 

The receipts, with the exception of about twenty which are 
copied from books, are furnished from my own experience, or 
that of my immediate friends. An ample variety is given for 
furnishing the table of any American family; but especial ref- 
erence has been had to those who have neither poverty nor 
riches ; and such directions have been given as will enable a 
housekeeper to provide a good and healthful table, or, if desired, 
a handsome one, at a moderate expense. 

To save repetition, very minute directions are given at the 
head of every chapter, by attending to which, the least experi- 
enced cook will learn how to proceed in making each article for 
which a receipt is given. 

(iii) 


lv PREFACE. 


I do not attempt to give directions in regard to the best 
methods of taking care of all sorts of furniture, and performing 
all the various kinds of household labor, because there are 
works already published which furnish copious and judicious 
instructions on these subjects. 

It may be asked, “ Why then publish a book of counsels and 
receipts, for there surely are many receipt-books?” This is 
true; but while some of them are not ample guides on the sub- 
jects of which they treat, others are based upon a plan both 
expensive and unhealthy, and all of them that I have seen, 
leave an inexperienced housekeeper at a loss in regard to many 
of the things most necessary to economy and comfort. 

I have seen many a young lady, just entered upon the duties 
of married life, perplexed and prematurely care-worn, for want 
of experience, or a little good instruction, in regard to the sim- 
plest domestic processes ; and often have felt, with the sincerest — 
sympathy, an earnest wish to render her some effectual aid. If 
I succeed in affording it through this little book, I shall esteem 
myself happy; and I have only to ask, in conclusion, that my 
numerous young friends, and all the youthful housekeepers into 
whose hands it may fall, will receive it as a token of my friend- 
ly interest and best wishes. 


M. H. Cc. 
ANDOVER. 





SMB. 


PREFACE 


TO THE REVISED EDITION. 


My aim in the revision of this little book has been to make 
the arrangement of the receipts and of the index more conven- 
ient, the directions more simple and clear, and the entire col- 
lection more select and reliable. In place of some of the old 
receipts many choice new ones are substituted, which, so far as 
I know, have not been in print before. ~All of them have been 
attested by experience, either my own, or of friends in whose 
judgment in such matters I have entire confidence. The last 
chapter, written long since in compliance with frequent requests 
from young friends, is appended in the hope that it will increase 
the usefulness of the book to those for whose benefit it was 
originally designed. 

I trust it is not improper for me to add, that among the mo- 
tives which have led to the present revision, is the favor with 
which many ladies have régarded this book in its original form, 
notwithstanding its confessed imperfections. It has been my 
earnest wish for years to make it more worthy of such estima- 
tion; and hoping that it will prove a better Friend to Young 
Housekeepers than it has hitherto been, I ask for the continued 
patronage of those who have so long and so kindly overlooked 


its faults. 
M. H. C. 
MARCH, 1859. 


L* (v) 


THE 


YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 





COUNSELS AND SUGGESTIONS 


Good housekeeping compatible with intellectual culture.—Persevering attention 
rewarded. — Effects of unhealthy diet. — Responsibleness of women. ~ Apyii- 
cation of the principles of religion to the duties of domestic life. 


A SYMMETRICAL education is extremely rare in this country. 
Nothing is more common than to see young ladies, whose in- 
tellectual attainments are of a high order, profoundly ignorant 
of the duties which all acknowledge to belong peculiarly to 
women. Consequently many have to learn, after marriage, 
how to take care of a family; and thus their housekeeping is, 
frequently, little else than a series of experiments ; often unsuc- 
cessful, resulting in mortification and discomfort in the parlor, 
and waste and ill temper in the kitchen. 

So numerous are these instances, that excellence in house- 
keeping has come to be considered as incompatible with supe- 
rior intellectual culture. But it is not so. The most elevated 
minds fulfil best the every-day duties of life. If young women 
would resolve, let the effort cost what it will, to perfect them- 
selves in their appropriate duties, a defective domestic educa- 
tion would soon be remedied. Observation and persevering 
attention would give the requisite knowledge, and their efforts 


(7) 


8 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


would pring a speedy and ample reward. It were far better, 
when they enter upon the station of a mistress of a family, to 
be already possessed of such experience as would enable them 
easily to regulate the expenditures, and so to systematize the 
work of every day, as ‘to secure economy, comfort, neatness, 
and order. But if this knowledge has not been previously 
acquired, let not the learner be discouraged, or for a moment 
yield to the idea of “letting things take their course.” No 
woman can innocently or safely settle down upon this conclu- 
sion. The good to be lost, and the evils incurred, are too great 
to admit of such a decision. The result will certainly be un- 
comfortable ; and it would not be strange if the dearest domestic 
affections were thus chilled, and the most valuable family inter- 
ests sacrificed. 

How often do we see the happiness of a husband abridged 
by the absence of skill, neatness, and economy in the wife! 
Perhaps he is not able to fix upon the eause, for he does not 
understand minutely enough the processes upon which do- 
mestic order depends, to analyze the difficulty; but he is con- 
scious of discomfort. However improbable it may seem, the 
health of many a professional man is undermined, and his use- 
fulness curtailed, if not sacrificed, because he habitually eats 
bad bread. 

How frequently, in case of students in the various profes- 
sions, is the brightest promise of future attainment and honor 
overshadowed by a total loss of health; and the young 
scholar, in whom the choicest hopes were garnered up, is 
compelled to relinquish his studies, and turn his unwilling 
thoughts to other pursuits; or, worse than this, he becomes a 
helpless invalid for life. Yet even this is an enviable lot, 
compared with his, whose noble intellectual powers have be- 
come like the broken chords of an instrument that shall never 
again utter its melody. But are such evils as these to be 
traced to the use of unwholesome food? Every intelligent 
physician, every superintendent of our insane hospitals, tes- 
tifies that in very many instances, this is the prominent 
cause. 


COUNSELS AND SUGGESTIONS. 9 


We often see the most pious Christians heavy-hearted, and 
doubting their share in the great salvation; mistaking the sal- 
utary discipline of their Heavenly Father for the rod of an 
offended judge; forgetting the freeness of the mercy offered, 
looking only at their own unworthiness, and refusing to be 
comforted. Instances of this sort, resulting in incurable melan- 
choly, may frequently be traced to the same cause. The hu- 
man body and mind are so intimately associated, that the 
functions of the one cannot be disturbed without deranging 
the action of the other; and it is doubtless true, that many a 
hopeless heart and feeble body would be more benefited by a 
wholesome diet, than by the instructions of the minister, or the 
prescriptions of the physician. To say the least, the good 
offices of these will avail little while counteracted by the want 
of the other. 

If this subject has a direct bearing upon the health of fam- 
ilies, so also does it exert an immediate influence upon their vir- 
tue. There are numerous instances of worthy merchants and 
mechanics, whose efforts are paralyzed, and their hopes chilled 
by the total failure of the wife in her sphere of duty ; and who 
seek solace under their disappointment in the wine-party, or the 
late convivial supper. Many a day-laborer, on his return at 
evening from his hard toil, is repelled by the sight of a disor- 
derly house and a comfortless supper; and perhaps is met by a 
cold eye instead of “the thriftie wifie’s smile;” and he makes 
his escape to the grog-shop or the underground gambling-room. 
Can any human agency hinder the series of calamities entailed. 
by these things? No! the most active philanthropy, the best. 
schemes of organized benevolence, cannot furnish a remedy, 
unless the springs of society are rectified. The domestic influ- 
ence of woman is certainly one of these. Every woman is in- 
vested with a great degree of power over the happiness and 
virtue of others. She cannot escape using it, and she cannot 
innocently pervert it. There is no avenue or channel of society 
through which it may not send a salutary influence ; and when 
rightly directed, it is unsurpassed by any human instrumentality 
in its purifying and restoring efficacy. 


10 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


The Bible sanctions this view of female obligation and influ- 
ence, in the description it gives of the virtuous woman. “ Her 
price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely 
trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will 
do him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She seeketh 
wool and flax, and worketh diligently with her hands. She is 
like the merchant’s ships, she bringeth her food from afar. She 
riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her house- — 
hold, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field and 
buyeth it; with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. 
She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. 
She perceiveth that her merchandise is good, and her candle - 
goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, — 
and her hands hold the distaff’ She stretcheth out her hand to 
the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She 
is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her house- 
hold are clothed in scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of 
tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is 
known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the 
land. She maketh fine linen and selleth it; and delivereth gir- 
dies unto the merchant. Strength and honor are her clothing; 
and she shall rejoice in time tocome. She openeth her mouth 
with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She 
looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the 
bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed ; 
her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have 
done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favor is deceitful, 
and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord she 
shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let 
her own works praise her in the gates.” 

Like the paintings of the old artists, the beauty of this ex- 
quisite picture is enhanced by the “softened hue of years,” and 
like them it must be studied long ere its finest touches will be 
revealed. Female virtue is the same now that it was in the 
days of the wise man, and this portraiture is, in its outlines, 
still true to the life. Energy, industry, economy, order, skill, 





COUNSELS AND SUGGESTIONS. 11 


vigilance, cheerfulness, kindness, charity, discretion, and the fear 
of God, are as essential to the character of a good wife now, as 
they were then; and the effects of these are still the same in | 
the embellishments of her house, the abundance of her stores, 
the happiness of her household, her husband’s confidence in her, 
his honorable rank among the elders of the Jand, the virtues of 
her children, and her own felicity. To estimate the truth of the 
picture, we need only observe in society around us, that the hap- 
piest families are those in which the wife and mother most 
resembles it. 

In connection with this subject, the inquiry suggests itself 
whether, in the “ excessive externalism of the times,” due prom- 
inence is given to the practice of home-duties as a part of re- 
ligion? Whether the spirit of the New Testament is carried, 
as it should be, into the every-day concerns of life? Is not the 
giving largely to public objects of benevolence sometimes suf- 
fered to supersede the duty of “considering the poor,” and 
“bringing him that is cast out to our house?” Are not the 
claims of a popular charity readily allowed, while the inevitable 
ills of life, of which every family must have its share, are some- 
times permitted to remain unsoothed by the voice of sympathy, 
and the gentle ministry of skilful hands and a loving heart? 
We may even go to church, when we should offer purer incense 
to Him who sees the heart, by performing the humblest domes- 
tic labors at home. Let me not be misunderstood. The public 
institutions of religion have claims upon us which we cannot in- 
nocently set aside; but alas, erring mortals that we are! our 
piety is seldom symmetrical and consistent. We are prone to 
love publicity. We find it easier to give money, to enlist our 
energies in behalf of benevolent societies, to go with the multi- 
tude to the house of God, than to practise, in the retirement of 
home, the “ charity which suffereth long and is kind, which en- 
vieth not, vaunteth not itself, doth not behave itself unseemly, 
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, 
beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endur- 


12 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


eth all things, and never faileth.” Can we not learn, while we 
do the one, not to leave the other undone ? 


Style of living. — Consistency. — Economy. — Neatness. — Habits of regular 


attention to family concerns. — Perplexing days. — Company. — Arrange- 
ment of family work for a week.— First instructions to domestics. — 
Patience. — Good temper. — Observance of the Golden Rule. — Self-govern- 
ment when accidents happen. — Sunday privileges. 


ConsIDER in the outset what mode of living best befits 
your station, resources, and obligations to others; and so adjust 
your plan that consistency * and appropriateness shall appear 
throughout.. It is much better to adopt a style of expendi- 
ture below your means than above them. Of the unhappy 
effects of this last we have many examples in our country. A 
very little advance in the style of living, creates an additional 


expense greater than would at first be believed. ‘That little ~ 


sentence, “ [ can do without it,” has saved thousands of dollars 
for future exigencies. Prodigality is as fruitful of mischief as 
Pandora’s box, and no amount of wealth can justify it. Habits 
of wasteful expenditure are almost always accompanied with 
selfishness and a cold heart towards the claims of the poor. Be 
conscientious, therefore, in the practice of economy. Family 
comfort can hardly be found without it. Neatness is essential 
to it; for though there may be neatness without economy, there 
cannot be economy without neatness. 

Accustom yourself to take good care of every thing you pos- 


* The writer has heard of more than one lady who furnished but two 
dish-towels, fearing that a more ample supply would lead to waste in the 
use of them. But in one instance, when a superb dinner was given to a 
large party, the cook was reduced to the necessity of tearing up a sheet to 
wipe the dishes. 


ee 


cs 


COUNSELS AND SUGGESTIONS. -. 18 


sess. The best managers probably have, at first, a few disagree- 
able lessons to learn, in the loss of things forgotten or neglected 
for want of experience in having the entire care of a family. — 
But it is to be hoped there are not many who lose five or six 
hams eaten by the rats, or forty yards of Russia linen laid upon 
the snow to whiten, and forgotten till reduced to a pulp fit only 
for the paper-mill. 

Be economical without parsimony, liberal without waste, and 
practise the best methods of using your possessions without hav- 
ing your mind wholly absorbed by them. 

In your arrangements for the table, have reference to the 
work which is in hand, so that dishes which are easily cooked 
shall be provided for those days when most work is to be done. 
A want of consideration in this particular often provokes ill 
temper, and may even occasion the loss of a good domestic. 
This is one of the errors which those are liable to commit who 
are unaccustomed to household labor. Provide a variety of 
food ; a frugal table, with frequent change, is much more agree- 
able and healthy than a more expensive one, where nearly the 
same things are served up every day. 

If you are subject to uninvited company, and your means do 
not allow you to set before your guests as good a table as they 
keep at home, do not distress yourself or them with apologies. 
If they are real friends, they will cheerfully sit down with you 
to such a table as is appropriate to your circumstances, and 
would be made uncomfortable by an effort on your part to pro- 
vide a better one than you can afford. If your resources are 
ample, live in such a way that an unexpected visitor shall occa- 
sion no difference. ‘The less alteration made in family arrange- 
ments on account of visitors, the happier for them as well as for 
you. 

Never treat the subject of having company as if it were a 
great affair. Your doing this will excite your domestics, and 
lead them to imagine the addition to their usual work much 
greater than it is; your own cares, too, will be greatly mag- 
nified. A calm and quiet way of meeting all sorts of domestic 


2 


14 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


vicissitudes, and of doing the work of each day, be it more or 
less, equalizes the pressure of care, and prevents its becoming 
oppressive. 

Be composed when accidents happen to your furniture. The 
most careful hand is sometimes unsteady. Angry words will 
not mend broken glass or china, but they will teach your do- 
mestics to conceal such occurrences from you, and the only 
explanation ever given you will be, that they came apart. 
Encourage every one whom you employ to come immediately 
and tell you, when they have been so unfortunate as to 
break or injure any thing belonging to you. The cases are 
very rare, in which it is best to deduct the value from their 
wages. 

In the best regulated families there will be some laborious, 
perplexing days. Adverse and inconvenient circumstances will 
cluster together. At those times, guard against two things, — 
discouragement and irritability. If others look on the dark 
side, find something cheering to say; if they fret, sympathize 
in their share of the trial, while you set them the example of 
bearing your part in it well. 

Miss Hamilton’s three maxims, so often quoted, are worthy 
of an indelible inscription in every house : — 

“Do every thing in its proper time. 

“‘ Keep every thing to its proper use. 

“ Put every thing in its proper place.” 

She should have added, Do every thing in the best manner ; 
for the habit of aiming at a perfect standard, is not only of the 
highest importance in our moral interests, but also proportion- 
ately so in reference to the common affairs of life. 

Accustom yourself, each evéning, to arrange in your own 
mind the meals for the next day, and also the extra work to be 
done by others, and what you will do yourself. This habit 
promotes order and system, and gives quietness and ease to 
the movement of the whole family machinery. When you 
see defects, such as irregularity, confusion, waste, or want of 
cleanliness in any part of your household concerns, consider 


eee Se 





COUNSELS AND SUGGESTIONS. . 


what is the best remedy, and be willing to attend to the subject 
till the evil is cured. Fa ER 

Visit all the rooms and closets that are in constant use, every 
day. You will thus acquire that habit of attention to minutia, 
upon whic neatness and order so much depend, and it will 
cost a less expenditure of time and effort to secure these ends, 
than if a great many little things requiring attention are suffered 
to accumulate. This habit will also have the best effect upon 
those who serve you. They will not be tempted to negligence 
or waste, by the idea that you will never discover it. They 
will anticipate your daily inspection, and soon find themselves 
so much benefited by your habits of system and order, that 
their own convenience will dictate obedience to your directions 
and suggestions. Endeavor so to perfect your plan, that when 
you have given the necessary time, be it longer or shorter, to 
domestic concerns each morning, you can dismiss them from 
your mind and attend to other things, giving to these no fur- 
ther thought, except that which results from a habit of observing 
whatever passes in the family. 

When a new domestic enters your service, observe whether she 
seems to understand her business ; if not, teach her your meth- 
ods. Nothing can be more unreasonable than to expect a 
stranger to remember, and at once practise, a series of directions 
given all at once, and perhaps in a hurried manner. And yet, © 
this is an injustice of which many a girl has to complain. 
What wonder if mutual dissatisfaction and a speedy separation 
is the result? * She is in a new situation, unacquainted with 
the various parts of your house, and the arrangements of your 
family. Therefore, duty and self-interest dictate, that you 
cheerfully instruct her, so far as is necessary ; and a few days’ 
attention to her manner of doing her work, will probably be 
rewarded by a much more skilful and willing service, than if no 
such care were bestowed. She will discover that you are 





* Probably a lady, known to the writer, who had twenty-three girls in the 
course of six weeks, pursued this inconsiderate course. 


16 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


kindly disposed, ready to appreciate her efforts, and capable of 
judging when her work is well done. Confidence is thus in- 
spired, and she will be far more likely to become a faithful and 
permanent member of your household, than if left in the begin- 
ning to pursue her own course, and to be frowned upon if she 
does not happen to please. 

Refrain from severity and too much frequency in finding 
fault, and be careful not to speak to domestics of their errors at 
a time when they are perplexed or very busy. To choose a 
good time, is as necessary to success as to avoid needless sever- 
ity. Ifthe dinner is not properly done, it is usually best to say 
nothing at the time; your cook will doubtless be conscious of 
her failure, and your silence will have a much better effect upon 
her than any thing you can then say; but the next time the 
same articles are to be cooked, remind her of the previous fail- 
ure, point out the defect, and give her minute instructions how 
to avoid its repetition. 

Good temper, décision, and reasonable requisitions will secure 
the confidence and respect of your domestics; while fretfulness, 
lack of good judgment, and unreasonable demands will alienate 
them from you, and involve you in endless perplexities. Noth- 
ing gives the mistress of a family such power as blended 
decision and gentleness; they are truly irresistible. You need 
not, you must not, if you regard the best welfare of your house- 
hold, utter one impatient word from the beginning to the end of 
the year. 

Study the dispositions of those whom you employ. If you 
keep several domestics, arrange their work so that there shall 
be as little collision with one another, as possible. Be as con- 
siderate of their comfort, as you could reasonably wish others 
to be of yours in like circumstances. An universal obedience 
to the Golden Rule would make this world a paradise, and 
perhaps it is more liable to be forgotten in this relation than 
in most others. The best management on your part, cannot 
always save those who serve you from weariness and vexation ; 
but a well-timed word of kindness and sympathy does good like 
a medicine. 


COUNSELS AND SUGGESTIONS. ay 


Learn so to systematize your concerns, that each day of the 
week shall have its appropriate work, and every domestic know, 
without being prompted, what she is to do on that day. Ob- 
serve whether all do their appropriate work ; but do not prompt 
them, unless you see that they are likely to forget. ‘They 
should learn to feel the responsibility to be on their own mem- 
ory — not yours. 

In the morning, soon after breakfast, give all your directions 
about the dinner, and tea, and specify all the work you wish to 
have done in addition to the regular routine of the day. If you 
think of any thing more afterwards, defer it, if you can, till 
another day ; nothing disturbs the temper of domestics more 
than to have additional work assigned them after the business 
of the day has been laid out. 

The two following modes of arranging the work of a week, 
are designed for families whose pecuniary means allow an 
entirely comfortable, but not a costly mode of living; yet they 
may contain useful hints for those whose wealth admits of the 
employment of a number of domestics. 

On Monday have the house swept and dusted, the clothes for 
the wash collected, and such articles mended as should be before 
being washed. 

On Tuesday, wash; and here it should be observed, that 
those persons who have never practised washing, are often un- 
reasonable in their requirements on this day. If there is but 
one domestic, she is of course to do the washing; but, unless 
the family is small, she could be excused from doing the cook- 
ing or other ordinary work of the family. 

Every one acquainted with this part of family labor, knows 
that it is very discouraging to be obliged to leave it and do other 
things ; and the cleaning which must be done after the clothes 
are upon the line, is a sufficient occupation for the remaining 
time and strength, without one’s being obliged to do any por- 
tion of the daily housework. In families where the washings 
are large, it is better to delay the ironing until the next day 
but one; this gives time for doing some things necessarily 

Q* 


18 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


omitted on washing-day; for baking, if the size of the family 
makes it necessary to bake twice a week, and for folding the 
clothes; and the girl is better able to do the whole ironing in 
a day, than if she were to perform this labor immediately after 
washing. To most persons, both washing and ironing are 
severe labors, and therefore should not be assigned to suc- 
cessive days, unless the domestic herself prefers it, which is 
sometimes the case. 

Therefore, on Wednesday, bake, and fold the clothes. On 
Thursday, iron. On Friday, have all parts of the house that 
are in constant use, swept and dusted again, the brasses rubbed, 
and if there are windows to be washed, closets or sleeping rooms 
to be scoured, let it be done on this day. 

On Saturday, bake, and provide such a supply for the table 
as shall supersede the necessity of cooking on Sunday. 

The chief advantage of this method is, that the mistress of 
the family has not the Monday’s sweeping to do, in addition 
to getting the washing-day dinner; and if she is subject to in- 
cidental company, and has not daughters or a friend to help her, 
or has slender health, this is an important relief. 

The other arrangement is to wash on Monday ; bake, and do 
other things necessarily omitted, on Tuesday; iron on Wednes- 
day ; Thursday, do no extra work. Friday, sweep and clean ; 
Saturday, bake ; distribute clean bed linen, and see that every 
thing is in readiness for the Sabbath. 

The practice of rubbing all the silver in common use every 
week is not necessary, provided it is always washed in clean 
suds, and rinsed in scalding soft water without soap. If it is 
washed in the kitchen with other dishes, it will be necessary to 
rub it once in two or three weeks, 

There are several advantages in washing on Monday. It 
is then easy on Saturday to provide food enough to last until 
after the washing is done, which cannot easily be accomplished 
if it is delayed until Zwesday. Another is, that jf Monday is a 
pleasant day, the clothes may be dried, and the ironing and 
mending completed during the first half of the week; but if 





COUNSELS AND SUGGESTIONS. 19 


Tuesday be the washing-day, and it is rainy, the work of the 
whole week is delayed. Still another reason is, that after the 
entire rest of Sunday the frame is invigorated for labor; and 
lastly, it gives one day in the week of comparative leisure to 
the domestic. This is a consideration worthy of regard. Some 
ladies are always uneasy, and appear to think themselves 
wronged, when they see their domestics quietly seated at their 
sewing; as if they could not render faithful service without 
being employed the whole time in household labor. But those 
persons who so arrange their affairs as to secure to their domes- 
tics several hours every week for their own employments, and 
who take an interest in promoting, in every reasonable way, 
their comfort and happiness, will be amply rewarded in their 
faithfulness and attachment. 

The situation of a waiting-maid is, in some families, one of 
hard bondage. It seems as if her employers had forgotten that 
she is made of flesh and blood, and is therefore capable of hav- 
ing an aching head and weary limbs. She must run at the call 
of the various bells throughout the house, and no matter how 
tired she becomes, there is no rest for the sole of her foot. If 
the unfortunate being is a homeless, motherless little girl, or a 
friendless foreigner, so much the worse. By a little considera- 
tion on the part of the lady, or ladies, of a family, such hard 
requisitions might be avoided without any real sacrifice of com- 
fort. Our happiness is promoted by the cultivation of such 
habits that we shall not need the constant attendance of another 
to save us from exertion. 

If your domestics cannot read, offer to teach them, and devote 
several half hours to their instruction during the week, and an 
additional hour on Sunday. It is a religious duty, a part of 
every Christian’s misston.* Encourage in them a taste for read- 
ing, by keeping useful and entertaining books in the kitchen. 
A love of rational pleasure will thus be promoted, and the effect 
be every way beneficial. 

Let the least possible amount of labor be required from those 
who serve you, on Sunday. This ought to be a needless injunc- 


20 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


tion in this country; but many a professor of religion, living on 
the soil trodden by the puritan pilgrims, provides a better din- 
ner for the Sabbath than for any other day. Religion forbids 
such a practice; but, aside from this consideration, family com- 
fort is essentially promoted by quietness and freedom from care 
on the Lord’s day. Domestics, whatever be their religious pre- 
dilections, uniformly regard it a great privilege to he exempt 
from cooking on that day. It is easy, by a little good manage- 
ment, to provide a dinner, nice enough for any table in the land, 
without even kindling a fire. In the summer this is done in 
many families; and in the winter, when a fire is of course 
always burning, a cup of tea, or a dish of vegetables, can be 
added to the cold articles already provided, without keeping 
any one from church for the purpose. 

In concluding these suggestions, the writer cannot refrain 
from adding a few words of sympathy and encouragement for 
those who, having passed their youth in affluent ease, or in the 
delights of study, are obliged, by the vicissitudes of life, to 
spend their time and strength in laborious household occupa- 
tions. ‘There are many such instances in this country, particu- 


larly in the great Western Valley. Adversity succeeds pros- 


perity like a sudden inundation, and sweeps away the possessions 
and the hopes of multitudes. The poor and uneducated are 
often rapidly elevated to wealthy independence, while the re- 
fined and highly educated are compelled to taste the bitterness 
of poverty; and minds capable of any attainment, and that 
would grace any station, are doomed to expend their energies 
in devising methods for the hands to earn a scanty livelihood. 


Let not such persons feel themselves degraded by the per-. 


formance of the humblest domestic labor. : 


“ Some kinds of baseness 
Are nobly undergone, and most poor matters 
Point to rich ends.” 


However lowly the common duties of life may be, a faithful 
and cheerful discharge of them is always honorable, and. God 
smiles on those who patiently fulfil them. 


Sls ile 


_P 


OVENS, AND HOW TO HEAT THEM. 21 


OVENS, BREAD, &c. 


Ovens — and how to heat them. 

Stoves and cooking-ranges have so generally taken the place 
of brick ovens, that the following directions, which were ap- 
propriate when this book was first published, will seldom be of 
use now. Yet, as they may sometimes be needed, they are suf- 
fered to remain. It is impossible to give minute directions as to 
the management of the various kinds of baking apparatus now 
in use. A few experiments will enable a person of good judg- 
ment to succeed with any of them. 

A few suggestions in regard to the construction of an oven 
may be useful. For a family of medium size, an oven holding 
ten or twelve plates is large enough. There should be two or 
three bushels of ashes, with dead coals in them, poured over the 
top, after the first tier of bricks which forms the arch is laid. 
Then the usual brickwork should be laid over them. The 
advantage is this, — when the oven is heated, these ashes and 
coals are heated also, and, being so thick, retain the heat a long 
time. Five successive bakings have been done in such an oven 
with one heating; the bread first — then the puddings — after- 
ward pastry — then cake and gingerbread — and lastly custards, 
which, if made with boiled milk and put into the oven hot, and 
allowed to stand a considerable time, will bake sufficiently with 
a very slight heat. 

The first time an oven is heated, a large fire should be kept 
burning in it six or eight hours. Unless this is done it will 
never bake well. 

The size and structure of ovens is so different, that no precise 
rules for heating them can be given. A lady should attend to 
this herself, until she perfectly understands what is necessary, 
and can give minute directions to those she employs. It is easy 
to find out how many sticks of a given size are necessary for 
baking articles that require a strong heat; and so for those 


93 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


which are baked with less. To bake brown bread, beans, ap- 
ples, and other things, ail at one time, the oven should be heated 
with hard wood, and if rather large, so as to be two hours in 
burning out, it is better. To bake thin cake, and some kinds of 
puddings, pine wood, split small, answers very well. 

After the wood is half burnt, stir the fire equally to all parts 
of the oven. This is necessary to an equal diffusion of the heat. 
Do it several times before the oven is cleared. If the oven is 
to be very full, put in a brick, so that you can have it hot, to set 
upon it any pan or plate for which there may not be room on 
the bottom.* Be careful that no doors or windows are open 
near the oven. Let the coals remain until they are no longer 
red. They should not look dead, but like hot embers. When 
you take them out, leave in the back part a few to be put near 
the pans that require most heat, such as beans, Indian pudding, 
or jars of fruit. Before putting in the things to be baked, throw 
in a little flour. If it browns instantly, the oven is too hot, and 
should stand open three or four minutes. If it browns without 


burning in the course of half a minute, it will be safe to set in » 


the articles immediately. It is often best not to put in those 
things which require a moderate heat, till those which need a 
strong heat have been baking ten or fifteen minutes. 

A coal scuttle of peat, with less wood, is economical, and 
gives an equal and very prolonged heat. Many persons use it 
with pine wood, for their ordinary baking. It takes a longer 
time to burn out than wood. 

It is well to kindle the fire as far back as possible, because all 
parts of the wood are much sooner on fire than if it is kindled 
near the mouth of the oven; and if peat is used, it should not 
be thrown in until the wood is well kindled. 


Directions respecting Bread. 


There is no one thing upon which health and comfort in a 





* The pan which is set on this brick may need a paper over it to keep 
the top from burning, and after a while should be set on the oven bottom, 
and another put on the brick. 





: 
q 
. 
’ 


ee ee ee ee 


ON YEAST. 23 


family so much depend as bread. With good bread the coarsest 
fare is tolerable; without it, the most luxurious table is not com- 
fortable.. 

It is best economy to purchase the Jest flour, even at an extra 
cost. Good flour adheres slightly to the hand, and if pressed in 
it, shows the impress of the lines of the skin. Dough made of 
it is a yellowish white, and does not stick to the hands after suf- 
ficient kneading. There is much bad flour in market, which can 
in no way be made into nutritious food. 

When you find good flour, notice the brand, and afterwards 
purchase the same kind. The writer knows a family that for 
eleven years purchased flour in this way, without once having a 
poor barrel ; then the mills passed to another owner, and though 
the brand was the same, the flour was good no more. 

If you raise wheat, or buy it in the grain, always wash it 
before sending it to the mill. Take two or three bushels at a 
time, pour in water and stir it, and then pour off the water. 
Repeat this till the water is clear. Do not let the grain stand 
in the water, as it will swell and be injured; spread it on a 
large cloth in the sun, or where it will have warmth and fresh 
air, and stir it often, and in a day or two it will be dry. The 
flour is much improved by this process. 

Newly ground flour which has never been packed, is very 
superior to barrel flour, so that the people in Western New 
York, that land of finest wheat, say that New England people 
do not know what good flour is. 

Indian meal, also, is much the best when freshly ground. 
The meal made of Southern corn is often injured by salt water, 
or dampness acquired in the hold of a ship. 

Rye flour is very apt to be musty or grown. There is no 
way to detect this but by trial. It is well to engage a farmer to 
supply you with the same he provides for his own family. 


On Yeast. 
Good yeast is indispensable to good bread. Many of the 
compounds sold for yeast are unfit for use. 


* 


24 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


The best kinds.are dry yeast, soft hop yeast, and potato yeast. 
The hard yeast should be made in the month of May, or early 
in June, for summer use, and in September or October, for the 
winter. This kind sometimes loses its vitality during the damp 
weather of August, but it is not invariably the case. Soft hop, 
or potato yeast, should be made once a week in the summer, and 
once in two weeks in the winter. No soft yeast can be fit for 
use, if kept week after week; it may be rectified with saleratus, 
but the bread will not be very good. 

Every housekeeper should make sure, by her own personal 
attention, that the yeast is. properly made, and the jar well 
scalded. A jar having a close cover is best. Bottles will burst, 
and you cannot be perfectly sure that a jug is cleansed from 
every particle of old yeast. To scald the jar, put it into a ket- 
tle of boiling water. This must be done every time you make 
yeast. Stone ware is liable to be cracked by the pouring of 
boiling water into it. 


Soft Hop Yeast. 
To three pints of water put a small handful of hops, or if 
they are in compact pound papers, as put up by the Shakers, 
half a handful; boil them about half an hour. If the water 
wastes, add more. Put into the jar six or seven table-spoonfuls 
of flour, and a teaspoonful of salt. Set it near the kettle, and 
dip the hop tea, as it boils, into the jar through a small colander 
or sieve. When you have strained enough of the tea to wet all 
the flour, stir it, and let none remain dry at the bottom or sides 
of the jar; then strain upon it the remainder of the hop-water, 
and stir it well. This mixture should be about the consistency 
of batter for griddle-cakes. The reason for straining the hop- 
water while boiling is, that if the flour is not scalded, the yeast 
will soon become sour. 
_ After it becomes cool (but not cold), stir in a gill of good 
yeast; set it in a slightly warm place, and not closely covered. 
Do not leave an iron spoon in it, as it will turn it a dark color, 
and make it unfit for use. When the yeast is fermented, put it 
in a cool place, covered close. 


DRY YEAST—POTATO YEAST. _ * 95 


Yeast which is made in part of Graham flour rises light 
sooner than that which is made of white flour alone, and does 
not affect the color of the bread. 

When yeast has a strong tart smell, and a watery appearance 
on the surface, it is too old for use. 


Dry Yeast. 

Put four ounces of hops to six quarts of water; boil it away 
to three quarts. Strain, boiling hot (as directed for the Soft 
yeast) upon three pints of flour, a large spoonful of ginger, and 
another of salt. When it is cool, add a pint of sweet yeast. 
When it is foaming light, knead in sifted Indian meal enough to 
make it very stiff. Mould it into loaves, and cut in thin slices, 
and lay it upon clean boards. Set it where there is a free cir- 
culation of air, in the sun. After one side has dried so as to be 
a little crisped, turn the slices over; and when both sides are 
dry, break them up into small pieces. It thus dries sooner than 
if not broken. Set it in the sun two or three days in succes- 
sion. Stir it often with your hand, so that all parts will be 
equally exposed to the air. When perfectly dry, put it into a 
coarse bag, and hang it in a dry and cool place. The greatest 
inconvenience in making this yeast is the danger of cloudy or 
wet weather. If the day after it is made should not be fair, it 
will do to set the jar in a cool place, and wait a day or two be- 
fore putting in the Indian meal. But the best yeast is made 
when the weather continues clear and dry; and if a little windy, 
so much the better. 

To use it, take, for five loaves of bread, one handful; soak it 
in a very little water till soft, which will be in a few minutes ; 
stir it into the sponge prepared for the bread. This yeast makes 
less delicate bread than the soft kind, but it is very convenient. 


Potato Yeast. 

Boil one handful of hops in two quarts of water half an hour. 
Strain it, aad return the tea to the kettle. Have ready grated 
eight large potatoes, or nine small ones; which stir into the tea. 

3 


26 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Let it boil a minute or two, and it will thicken to a batter. 
When nearly cold, add half a pint of good yeast. Let it fer- 
ment well, then put it into a jar and cover close. Always shake 
or stir before using it. 

Use a porcelain kettle for making this yeast, or an iron one 
tinned inside. -A common iron one will turn it dark. 


Good Family Bread. 

For five common-sized loaves, make a pint and a half of thin 
water gruel. Use half a teacupful of fine Indian meal. Salt 
it a little more than if it were to be eaten as gruel, and boil 
ten or fifteen minutes. This is of importance, as, if the meal is 
only scalded, the bread will be coarse. Add enough milk to 
make two quarts of the whole. If the milk is new, the gruel 
may be poured into it in the pan; if not, it should be scalded in 
the kettle with the gruel. This is particularly important in the 
summer, as at that season milk which is but a few hours old, and 
is sweet when put into the bread, will sour in the dough in a 
short time. When the mixture is cool, so that you are sure it 
will not scald, add a teacupful of yeast, and then stir in sifted 
flour * enough to make a thick batter. This is called a sponge. 
This being done in the evening, let it stand, if in summer, in a 
cool place, if in winter, in a moderately warm place, till morn- 
ing. ‘Then add flour enough to make it easy to mould, and 
knead it very thoroughly. 

This process of kneading is very important in making bread, 
and there are but few domestics whom it is not necessary to in- 
struct how to do it. They generally work over the dough with- 
out expending any strength upon it. The hands should be 
closely shut, and the fists pressed hard and quickly upon the 
dough, dipping them into flour whenever the dough sticks to 
them. A half an hour is the least time to be given to kneading 
a baking of bread, unless you prefer, after having done this till 


* All kinds of flour and meal should be sifted for use, excépt buckwheat 
and Graham flour. 





FAMILY BREAD. 27 


it ceases to stick to your hands, to chop it with a chopping-knife 
four or five hundred strokes. An hour’s kneading is not too 
much. 

All this looks on paper like a long and troublesome process ; 
but I venture to say that no lady, after having learned the ben- 
efit of it, will be willing to diminish any portion of the labor and 
attention necessary to secure such bread as these directions, ob- 
served, will make. Practice will make it easy, and no woman 
of sense will hesitate in choosing between sour, tough, ill-baked 
bread, with heaps of wasted pieces, a dyspeptic husband, and 
sickly children on the one hand, and comfort, economy, and 
health on the other. 

But to return to the bread. After it is thoroughly kneaded, 
divide it into four or five equal pieces, and mould according to 
the form of the pans in which you bake it. These being 
greased with clean drippings, put in the dough and set it in the 
sun or near the fire (according to the season) to rise. Loaves 
of this size will bake in an hour ; if the oven be rather hot, in a 
few minutes short of an hour. Practice and good judgment 
must direct these things. If the bread rises rather slowly, take 
a dish of warm water and wet the top with your hand. 

When the loaves are baked, do not lay them flat upon the 
table ; good housewives think it makes them heavy. Set them 
on the side, one against another, and put a coarse cloth closely 


over them; this makes the crust tender by keeping in the 


steam. If bread is baked too hard, wring a towel in cold water 
and wrap around it while it is yet hot. Care is necessary that 
bread does not rise too much, and thus become sour, especially 
in warm weather; and even if it does not, the freshness is lost, 
and an insipid taste is produced, and it becomes dry sooner by 
long rising. No exact rule can be given; experience and ob- 
servation must teach. When dough becomes:so light as to run 
over after being moulded and put into pans, it is best to mould 
it again, kneading it hard two or three minutes, but using as 
little flour as possible ; then lay it back into the pans, and put it 
immediately into the oven ; this prevents its being tasteless and 





28 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


dry ; it will be perfectly light, but of a different sort, and much 
preferred by some persons. 

Some people invariably use saleratus in bread, and there are 
tables where the effluvia of this article, and the deep yellow 
color of the bread, offend the senses before it is tasted. If all 
the materials used are good, and the dough has not been per- 
mitted to sour, white bread is far better without saleratus, except 
that which is made with water. If dough has become sour, a 
teaspoonful of saleratus for every quart of the milk or water 
that was used for wetting the bread, will be sufficient to correct 
it. The tray or pan in which the bread is made, should be 
scalded after being washed, every time it is used, except in cold 
weather. It is not good economy to buy skimmed milk, as 
some persons do, for making bread. It renders it tough and 
indigestible, if used in the ordinary way. In case it is used for 
this purpose, it should be boiled, and thickened with a little 
Indian meal in the same way, and the same proportions as 
directed for making gruel, in the receipt for Good Family Bread. 
Use no water with it. 


Bread made without a Sponge. 

In cool weather the milk should be warmed. A little more 
yeast is necessary than for sponge-bread, and it should be made 
up over night. When it is light, knead and mould it, and raise 
it again in the pans in which it is to be baked. 

If brewer’s yeast is used, a table-spoonful is enough for every 
quart of wetting, and it should not stand over night, as it rises 
very quickly. 


Water Bread. 

Take a quart of warm water, a teaspoonful of salt, and a 
small gill of yeast. Add flour enough to make a sponge, as 
before directed. In the morning add half a teaspoonful of sal- 
eratus. The design of this is to make it tender. It should be 
kneaded longer than bread made with milk — an hour at least. 
None but the best of flour will make good bread with water alone. 





RICE BREAD — MILK BREAD, ETC. 29 


Rice Bread. — 

Allow half a pint of ground rice to a quart of milk, or milk 
and water; put the milk and water over the fire to boil, reserv- 
ing enough to wet the rice. Stir out the lumps, add a large 
teaspoonful of salt, and when the milk and water boil, stir in the 
rice, exactly as when you make gruel. Boil it up two or three 
minutes, stirring it repeatedly; then pour it out into your 
bread-pan, and immedvately stir in as much flour as you can 
with a spoon. After it is cool enough (and of this be very 
sure, as scalding the yeast will make heavy, sour bread, full of 
great holes), add a gill of yeast, and let it stand until morning. 
Then knead in more flour until the dough ceases to stick to the 
hands. It is necessary to make this kind of bread a little stiffer 
than that in which no rice is used, else there will be a heavy 
streak through the loaf. It is elegant bread, keeps moist sev- 
eral days, and is particularly good toasted. 


Bread made with Milk. 

To make the spange, simply warm the milk if the weather is 
cold; if warm weather, boil it; when cool enough, stir in the 
gill of yeast, and a little salt; make it with the same care as 
that which is made with Indian meal gruel. 

All these various sponges are very nice baked on a griddle 
like buckwheat-cakes, or poured into a buttered, shallow pan 
and baked in the cooking-stove ; and better still, baked in muf- 
fin rings. 


Third Bread. 

Take equal parts of white flour, rye flour, and Indian meal. 
It is good made with water, but made with milk is much better. 
Add salt and a gill of yeast to a quart of water or milk. It 
should not be made so stiff as to mould, but as thick as you 
can stir it with your hand, or a large spoon. Like all other 
bread it should be thoroughly worked together. Bake in deep 
pans. 

3% 


50% THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Graham Bread. 

Take a pint of warm water, one teacup of white flour, a 
spoonful of scalded Indian meal, a small teacup of yeast, a 
spoonful or two of molasses, a feaspoonful of salt, a small one of 
saleratus, and stir them together; then add as much unbolted, 
or Graham flour (not sifted) as will be stirred in with a spoon. 
Do this over night, and in the morning stir it again a few min- 
utes, and pour it into two deep tin pans. Let it rise up again, 
and bake an hour. This is very excellent bread — a different 
thing from the hard, unpalatable article which many,a dyspeptic 
eats as a penance. 

Like the wheat sponge, it is good baked in rings on a griddle 
for breakfast ; it will, however, take several minutes longer, 
and will more easily burn, owing to the molasses which is 
in it. | 


Another (one loaf). 

Take one coffee-cup of white flour, two of Graham flour, one 
of warm water, half a cup each of yeast, and molasses, a small 
teaspoonful of salt, and half a teaspoonful of saleratus dissolved 
in the water. It should be made as stiff as can be stirred with 
a spoon. If you prefer to add a spoonful of Indian meal it is 
very well, but it should be scalded. Let it rise over night, and 
when ‘it is very light, bake it about an hour in a moderate 
heat. 


Boston Brown Bread, to be baked in a Brick Oven. 

Take a quart of rye meal, and the same of fine Indian meal. 
(If this is bitter, scald it before mixing it with the rye. If it is 
sweet and fresh, almost every thing in which it is used is 
lighter without its being scalded.) . Mix with warm water, a 
gill of molasses, a teaspoonful of saleratus, a large teaspoonful of 
salt, and half a gill of yeast Such bread is improved by the 
addition of a gill of boiled pumpkin or winter squash. Make it 
stiff as can easily be stirred. Grease a deep, brown pan, 








STEAMED BROWN BREAD—INDIAN LOAF. | 31 


thickly, and put the bread in it, and dip your hand in water and 
smooth over the top. ‘This will rise faster than other bread, 
and should not be made over night in the summer. If put into 
the oven in the forenoon, it will be ready for the tea-table. If 
in the afternoon, let it stand in the oven till morning. This 
may be steamed, as directed in the next receipt. 


Steamed Brown Bread. 

For a very small family, take half a pint of rye meal, not 
sifted, and a pint of sifted Indian meal, a pint of sour milk, a 
half a gill of molasses, a teaspoonful of salt, and a large tea- 
spoonful of saleratus. Mix all the ingredients except the sal- 
eratus, dissolve that (as it should always be) in a little boiling 
water, and add it, stirring the mixture well. Grease a tin 
pudding pan, or a pail having a close lid, and having put the 
bread in it, set it into a kettle of boiling water. The bread 
should not quite fill the pail, as it must have room to swell. 
See that the water does not boil up to the top of the pail, and 
also take care it does not boil entirely away. .The bread should 
be cooked at least four hours. ‘To serve it, remove the lid, and 
set it a few minutes into the stove oven, without the lid, to dry 
the top; then it will turn out in perfect shape. 

If used as a pudding, those who have cream, can make an 
excellent sauce for it of thick sowr cream, by stirring into it 
plenty of sugar, and adding nutmeg. This bread. is improved 
by being made, and put into the pan or pail in which it is to be 
boiled, two or three hours before it is set into the kettle. It is 
good toasted the next day. 


Indian Loaf. 

To one quart of sweet milk, put a gill of molasses, a teaspoon- 
ful of saleratus, a heaping pint of Indian meal, a gill of flour, 
and a teaspoonful of salt. Stir it well together, put it into a 
deep brown pan, and bake in a brick oven. It should be 
stirred the last thing before being set into the oven. It must 
be in the oven many hours, at least eight or nine, if it is a brick 


& 


32 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


oven, and if set in towards night should stand till morning, If 
it is baked in a range, it will require five or six hours of moder- 
ate heat. 


Rye Bread. 

Take a pint ot water, and a large spoonful of fine Indian 
meal, and make it into gruel. Add a pint of milk, and when 
cool enough, a small gill of yeast, and then the flour. Fine, 
bolted rye. flour is necessary to make this bread good. Knead 
it about as stiff as white bread. Let it rise over night, and 
then mould and put into three pans to rise again. When light, 
bake it about an hour. Rye is very adhesive, and a young 
cook will be troubled with its sticking to her fingers, but prac- 
tice will make it easy to manage it. 


To make Stale Bread, or Cake, Fresh. 

Plunge the loaf one instant in cold water, and lay it upon a 
tin in the stove ten or fifteen minutes. It will be like new 
bread without its deleterious qualities. Stale cake is thus made 
nice as new cake. But bread or cake heated over thus, should 
be used immediately. 


Various convenient Uses of Bread Dough. 

In the winter, dough may be kept sweet many days in a 
place where it will be cold, without freezing, and it will grow 
better till the last. It should be raised light, then kneaded 
a little, and then covered with a damp cloth, so that a dry crust 
will not form on the top. Fresh bread can thus be furnished 


for the table every day, without extra work. Doughnuts, 


bread, cake, or rusks can be made of it by adding butter, sugar, 
and spice; tea biscuit also, fried biscuit, crust for apple dump- 
ling, and for pan pie. See the receipts for these articles. 

The dough should be made, at least in part, with milk, when 
it is to be used for these purposes. 

These directions are particularly recommended to persons 
who do their own house-work, and of course wish to save time 
and labor, as much as possible. 


RAISED BISCUIT —BUTTER-MILK BISCUIT, ETC. 33 


BISCUITS, TEA CAKES, GRIDDLE 
CAKES, &c. 


Raised Biscuit. 

Take a pint bowl full of light dough; break into it a fresh egg, 
and add a piece of butter the size of an egg. Knead in these 
until perfectly incorporated with the dough. It will require 
about ten minutes. Roll it out about an inch thick, cut it into 
biscuit. Lay them upon a tin sheet, or shallow baking-pan, 
and let them rise in a moderately warm place. ‘They will be- 
come very light and should be baked in a quick stove, baker, or 
oven. They will bake in twelve or fifteen minutes, and are 
injured by being baked very slowly. Very nice eaten fresh, 
but not hot. This measure will make about two dozen. They 
are not so good the next day as biscuit made without an egg. 


Butter-milk Biscuit. 

Take a half pint of butter-milk, or sour milk, and a pint of 
‘flour. Rub into the flour a piece of butter half the size of an 
egg. Add a little salt and stir the milk into the flour. Dis- 
solve a teaspoonful of saleratus in a very little hot water, and 
stir into it. 

Add flour enough barely to mould it smooth; roll it out upon 
the board, and cut out and bake exactly like the tea biscuit. 
The advantage of putting in the saleratus after the dough is 
partly mixed, is, that the foaming process occasioned by com- 
bining the sour milk and alkali, raises the whole mass; whereas 
if‘it is stirred first into the milk, much of the effervescence is 
lost, before it is added to the flour. 


Cream Biscuit. 

These are to be made in the same manner as the butter-milk 
biscuit, except that no butter is required; the cream will make 
them sufficiently short. 


* 


34 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Cream of Tartar Biscuit. 


Stir into one quart of flour, two teaspoonfuls of cream of 
tartar, and a little salt. Add two table-spoonfuls of thick 
cream, or rub in one spoonful of lard or butter. Put in a tea- 
spoonful of soda or saleratus, dissolved in a very little hot 
water. Mix the whole rather soft with milk. Bake like the 
tea biscuit. 


It is a convenient way to make the mixture soft enough with 


milk to enable you to stir it well with a spoon, and then drop it 
into the baking pan. It should spread a little, but not run. To 
vary these drop-cakes add an egg, and two spoonfuls of sugar. 
For a family of three or four, make half the measure. 


Cream of Tartar Biscuit without Milk. 


Rub a piece of butter the size of an egg into a quart of flour 
till there are no little lumps. Then add a teaspoonful of salt, 
and scatter in two heaping teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar. 
Have ready a pint of cold water, in which a heaping teaspoonful 
of saleratus or soda has been dissolved ; pour it into the flour, 
stirring it quickly with your hand. Do this several minutes 
that the ingredients may become well mixed; then add flour 
enough to enable you to mould it smooth. Roll it out the same 
thickness as tea biscuit. If these are made right, they are 
as light as foam. They may be made of unbolted flour, if 
preferred. Make half the measure for a small family. 


Litchfield Crackers. 


To one pint of cold milk, put a piece of butter the size of.an 
egg, a small teaspoonful of salt,and one egg. Rub the butter into 
a quart of flour, then add the egg and milk. Knead in more flour 
until it is as stiff as it can possibly be made, and pound it with 
an iron pestle, or the broad end of a flat-iron, for at least one 
hour; then roll it very thin, cut it into rounds, prick, and bake 
in a quick oven, twelve or fifteen minutes. 


ee Leh as 


JENNY LIND — SALLY LUNN — RUSK. 39 


Jenny Lind. 

Take one egg, one teacup of sugar, one of sweet milk, two 
and a half of flour, a dessert-spoonful of butter, two teaspoon- 
fuls of cream of tartar, one of saleratus, and a very little salt. 
To mix it, stir the cream of tartar, sugar, and salt into the flour, 
then the milk, add the egg without beating, dissolve the sale- 
ratus, and melt the butter together in a spoonful of hot water, 
then stir all together a few minutes. Bake in fifteen minutes in 
two pans about the size of a breakfast plate. If you prefer, 
make it with sour milk, and omit the cream of tartar. 

With the addition of one more egg, a teaspoonful more of 
butter, and half a cup of sugar, and some spice, this is a nice 
cake for the basket, and may sometimes be very convenient, be- 
cause so quickly made. 


Sally Lunn. 

A quart of flour, a piece of butter the size of an egg, three 
table-spoonfuls of sugar, two eggs, two teacups of milk, two tea- 
spoonfuls of cream of tartar, one of saleratus, and a little salt. 

To mix it, scatter the cream of tartar, the salt, and the sugar 
into the flour; add the eggs without having beaten them, the 
butter melted, and one cup of the milk; dissolve the saleratus 
in the remaining cup, and then stir all together steadily a few 
minutes. Bake in three pans the size of a breakfast plate, 
fifteen or twenty minutes. For a family of four or five, make 
half the measure. Add spice, and twice the measure of sugar, 
and you have a good plain cake for the cake-basket. 


Rusk. 

To a pint bowl of light dough add a gill of sugar, half as 
much butter, and either a little cinnamon, allspice, or lemon. 
Work these ingredients together, and then add flour enough to 
enable you to mould it smooth and roll it out. Let it be 
about an inch thick; cut it into biscuit, and lay them into a 
baking-pan to rise. ‘They should become very light before 
being baked ; and, therefore, in cold weather it is well to let the 


36 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


dough stand, after the ingredients are added, until the next day, 
then roll out the biscuit, and raise them in the bake-pan. Their 
appearance is improved by wetting the top with a mixture of 
sugar and milk, when they are nearly baked; then return them 
to the oven fora short time. They require fifteen or twenty 
minutes to bake. 

A double measure may be made in cold weather, and when 
light be set in a cool place, but where it will not freeze, and a 
pan be baked whenever needed. Each day it will be better 
than the previous one. 


Another (extra nice). 

To one tumbler of milk, put half a gill of yeast, three eggs, 
one coffee-cup of sugar, two ounces of butter, and one small nut- 
meg. Beat the sugar and eggs together, rub the butter into the 
flour, of which use enough to enable you just to mould it. Let 
it rise over night; and when very light, roll out and put it on 
tins to rise again, after which, bake as above. 


Whigs. 

Half a pound of butter, the same of sugar, six eggs, two 
pounds of flour, a pint of milk, a gill of yeast, and a little salt. 
Melt the butter in the milk, and pour into the flour; beat the 
sugar and eggs together and stir in. Add the yeast last, 
and be careful to mix the whole very thoroughly. Bake in 
tin hearts and rounds, in the stove, or baker. 


Waffles. 

To a quart of milk, put six eggs, a quarter of a pound of 
butter, a large gill of yeast, a little salt, and flour enough to 
make a batter the thickness of griddle cakes. The iron must 
be heated on hot coals, and then buttered or greased with lard, 
and one side filled with batter, then be shut and laid on the fire. 
After a few minutes turn it upon the other side. It takes about 
twice the time that it would to bake them on a griddle, and they 
are really no better, but look more inviting. 


MUFFINS —DROP CAKES. 37 


Sour Milk Muffins. 

To a pint of sour milk put one egg, without first beating it; 
a little salt, a teaspoonful of saleratus, and one of butter, melted 
with the saleratus in a spoonful of hot water. Make rather a 
thick batter. To bake well in rings, have the griddle of a 
moderate heat, grease it, and also the rings, lay them on, and 
fill them only half full of the batter ; increase the heat a little. 
In about eight minutes, turn them and let them lie two or three 
minutes more. 

To turn them without spilling requires some dexterity. 


Cream of Tartar Muffins. 

A quart of flour, a small pint of rich milk, two eggs, a table- 
spoonful of sugar, a teaspoonful of saleratus, two of cream of 
tartar, half a teaspoonful of salt. 

Mix the salt, the cream of tartar and the sugar, dry, in the 
flour, add the eggs without beating, then the milk with the sal- 
eratus dissolved in it, and beat these ingredients very thoroughly. 
Half fill the rings, and bake in a quick oven. 


Raised Muffins. 

Melt a table-spoonful of butter in a pint of milk, add a little 
salt, two eggs, and a large half gill of yeast, then stir in flour 
enough to make a thick batter. In cold weather this may 
stand two or three days without becoming sour. 


Another. 

A pint of milk, one egg, a piece of butter as large as an egg, 
one teaspoonful of salt, half a gill of yeast, and flour enough 
to make a thick batter. Let it rise over night, and bake in 
rings. Like the other, can be kept a day or two in cold 
weather. 


Drop Cakes. 
Break four eggs into a pint of sweet milk, melt a piece of 
butter the size of an egg and add it, with a little salt, and flour 
4 


38 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


enough to make a batter about as thick as cup-cake. Beat all 
together several minutes. If the cakes are to be eaten cold, 
add two spoonfuls of brown sugar. Bake in very small scalloped 
tins, or in cups. 


Rye Drop Cakes.* 

To a pint of sour-milk, or butter-milk, put two or three eggs, 
not quite a teaspoonful of saleratus, a little salt, and sifted rye 
meal (this is much better than rye flour), enough to make a 
batter that will spread a little, but not run. Drop them in muf- 
fin-rings with a spoon. They will require about twice as much 
time to bake as common griddle cakes. ‘They will bake very 
nicely in a stove in fifteen minutes. Graham flour may be 
substituted for rye if preferred. 


GRIDDLE CAKES. 


White Flour. 

To a quart of milk, put four eggs, a little salt, a large spoon- 
ful of butter, melted into the milk, a small gill of yeast, and 
flour enough to make a batter about as thick as for buckwheat 
cakes. Some persons eat them with a sauce made of butter, 


sugar, water, and nutmeg. Made in the morning they will be 


light for tea. 


Butter-milk, or Sour milk. 

Make a thin batter with a quart of sour, or butter-milk, white 
flour, a spoonful of fine Indian meal, a teaspoonful of salt, 
another of saleratus, and an egg. Try a spoonful on the 
griddle before you proceed to bake them, so that you may add 
more flour, if it is too thin to turn easily, ur more milk if too 
thick. 


* See directions for Cream of Tartar Drop Cakes in the recipe for Cream 
of Tartar Biscuit, page 34. 











GRIDDLE CAKES. 39 


Another (without an egg). 
Make a batter just like the last receipt, only without the egg. 
Omit the Indian meal if you choose. 


Indian Meal. 

These are made like the sour milk cakes, only that the milk 
is chiefly thickened with Indian meal. A spoonful or two of 
flour should be added, and it is well to use two eggs instead of 
one, but not necessary. 


Nore. —In all these various kinds of cakes in which sour 
milk is used, it is an improvement to substitute buttermilk. 
But that which is sold in cities ag buttermilk, is often adul- 
terated. 


Rice. 

Put a teacupful of rice into two teacupsful of water, and 
boil it till the water is nearly absorbed, and then add a pint 
and a half of milk. Boil it slowly until the rice is very soft. 
When cool, add a small gill of yeast, three eggs, a little salt, 
and flour enough to make a batter of suitable thickness to bake 
on a griddle. Let it rise very light. To bake in muffin rings, 
make it a little thicker. 


Ground Rice. 

Boil a quart of milk. Rub smooth a teacupful of ground 
rice, in a gill or two of cold milk, and stir it into the boiling 
milk. Add salt, and when cool, add a teacup of yeast, four 
eggs, and flour to make it the right thickness for baking. Let 
it rise light. 


Buckwheat. 

For a family of four or five, take a quart of warm water, a 
spoonful of scalded Indian meal, a heaping teaspoonful of salt, 
and a gill of yeast. Stir in buckwheat flour enough to make a 
thin batter. Let it rise over night. In the morning adda 


oh oe THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


quarter of a teaspoonful of saleratus or soda. Do this whether 
the cakes are, sour or not. Buckwheat cakes cannot be made 
in perfection without this addition; but it should never be put 
in till just before they are baked. Such cakes are often made 
too thick, and fried with too much fat. They should be as thin 
as they can be, and be easily turned with a griddle shovel, and 
no more fat should be used than is necessary to keep them from 
sticking. To prevent the use of too much, tie a soft white 
rag, tight, round the tines of a large fork, and keep it for this 
purpose. Ifa gill of the batter is left, it will raise the next 
parcel. 

Buckwheat cakes are as much better made with milk as 
other cakes are; but no others are so good made with water. 
They are very nice made of sour milk, with nothing added but 
salt and saleratus. ‘These should be made only a short time be- 
fore being baked. | 


Fritters or Pan-Cakes. 

Make a batter of a pint of milk, three eggs, salt, and flour to 
make a rather thick batter. Beat it well, then drop it with a 
spoon into hot fat, and fry like doughnuts. These, and the 
snow fritters are usually eaten with sugar and cider, or lemon 
juice. 


Snow Fritters. 

Stir together milk, flour, and a little salt, to make rather a 
thick batter. Add new-fallen snow in the proportion of a tea- 
cupful to a pint of milk. Have the fat ready hot, at the time 
you stir in the snow, and drop the batter into it with a spoon. 
These pancakes are even preferred by some, to those made 
with eggs. 


Corn Cake. 


To a pint of sour milk, two cups of Indian meal, one of flour, 
one egg, two table-spoonfuls of molasses, a teaspoonful of salt, 





> 


DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING CAKE. 41 


and one of saleratus. Mix it thoroughly, and bake twenty-five 
minutes in two shallow pans, or thirty-five in a deep one. 


Another. | 

Take a pint of sweet milk, half a gill of yeast, one gill of 
flour, a teaspoonful of salt, and half a teaspoonful of saleratus ; 
stir in Indian meal enough to make it rather stiffer than griddle 
cakes; let it rise over night, and in the morning bake as di- 
rected, above. 

This kind of cake has the advantage over those made without 
yeast ; that if a piece of it is left, it is not heavy when cold, but 
is as palatable a lunch as a slice of good bread. 


Another. 

Take a pint of sour milk, or butter-milk, break an egg into 
it, stir in a spoonful or two of flour, and add Indian meal 
enough to make a thick batter; put in a teaspoonful of salt, stir 
it five or six minutes, and then add a heaping teaspoonful of 
saleratus dissolved in hot water. If it is the season for ber- 
ries of any kind, put in a gill or two; bake in a pan or on the 
griddle. 


Another. 

A pint of sweet milk, two eggs, a pint. of Indian meal or corn 
- flour, half a pint of white flour, one teaspoonful of tartaric acid, 
or cream of tartar, and one of soda, mixed dry in the flour. 
Bake in a pan, about an inch thick, or in drop cake tins. 


DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING CAKE. 


Wuen cake or pastry is to be made, take care not to make 
trouble for others by scattering materials, and soiling the table 
or floor, or by the needless use of many dishes. Put on a large 

4* 





42 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. a 


and clean apron, roll your sleeves above the elbows, tie some- 
thing over your head lest hair may fall; take care that your 
hands are clean, and have a basin of water and a clean towel at 
hand. Place every thing you will need on the table; butter the 
pans, grate the nutmegs, antl squeeze the lemons. Then break 
the eggs, each in a cup by itself, lest adding a bad one to the 
others should spoil the whole. Then weigh or measure flour 
and sugar, and, if not already done, sift them. Make your cake 
in an earthen, and not in a tin pan. 

In warm weather put your eggs into cold water some time 
before you are ready to break them. They cut into a much 
finer froth for being cold. For some kinds of cake the whites 
should be cut to a stiff froth, and the yolks beaten and strained, 
and then put to the butter and sugar after these have been 
stirred till they look like cream. Then mix the flour grad- 
ually. 

When cream or sour milk is to be put in, half of it should be 
added when half the flour is mixed in; then the remainder of 
the flour, and then the saleratus dissolved in the other half of the 
cream or milk. Lastly, add the spice, wine, lemon-juice, or 
fruit. 

In summer do not stir cake with the hand; the warmth of it 
makes it less light. A*wooden spoon, kept on purpose, is the 
best thing. In winter, soften, but do not melt the butter, before 
using it. Cake not raised with yeast, should be baked as soon 
as it 1s made, except such as is hard enough to be rolled. Cook- 
ies and sugar gingerbread roll out more smoothly the next day. 

Firkin butter must be cut in small pieces, and washed, to re- 
move some of the salt. Drain it well, or it will make heavy 
cake. Never put strong butter into cake; it renders it disagree- 
able and unhealthy.* 

Fresh eggs are needed for nice white cake. ‘Those kept in 
lime-water will do for raised cake and cookies. 

New Orleans, or other good brown sugar, is best for raised, 


* See directions for keeping butter in rose-leaves. Page 216. 





DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING CAKE. 43 


fruit, and wedding cake, but it should be coarse-grained and 
clean. It will answer also for cup cake, especially if fruit is 
used. White sugar must be used for sponge and other white 
cake. . 

The fruit should be added to raised cake when it is ready for 
the oven. Spread it equally over the top, and press it only a 
little below the surface, else it will sink to the bottom. 

Cask raisins should be washed before being stoned, and box 
raisins also, unless fresh. In stoning them, cut them in two or 
three pieces, or chop them. 

Keep currants ready prepared for use. To do this, wash 
them in warm water, rubbing them between the hands, and then 
pour off the water. Repeat this till the water is clear, then 
drain them in a sieve, spread them on a cloth on a table, and 
rub them dry with the ends of the cloth. Then brush the good 
ones into a dish in your lap, putting aside the bad ones on the 
table. Dry them in a gentle warmth, and set them away for 
use. | 

Buttered white paper in the bottom and sides of pans for 
cake requiring long baking, is needful; and paper not buttered 
is good for other kinds of cake, as it prevents burning. It will 
readily peel off when the cake is taken from the pans. 

Attention and practice will teach when cake is well baked. 
When it is done enough, it settles a little away from the pan. 
Even well made cake becomes heavy by being taken out of the 
oven before it is perfectly baked. Moving it carelessly while it 
is baking will also make light cake fall. If you have occasion 
to change the position of the pans, do it gently. 

A tin chest or a stone jar is good to keep cake in, and it is a 
good way to let that which is not to be kept long, remain in the 
tins in which it was baked. 


Directions for beating the Whites of Eggs. 

On breaking eggs, take care that none of the yolk becomes 
mingled with the whites. A single particle will sometimes pre- 
vent their frothing well. Put the whites into a large, flat dish, 


44 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


and beat them with an egg-beater made of doubled wire, with a 
tin handle ; or with a cork stuck crosswise upon the prongs of 
a fork. Strike a sharp, quick stroke through the whole length 
of the dish. Beat them in a cool place till they look like snow, 
and you can turn the dish over without their slipping off. Never 
suspend the process nor let them stand, even for one minute, as 
they will begin to return to a liquid state, and cannot be re- 
stored, and thus will make heavy cake. After they are beaten 
to a stiff froth they will not return to a liquid state. 

The above directions are designed to prevent the necessity 
of repetition and minuteness in each receipt. The young cook 
is advised to refer to them in making cake, that she may know 
at once how to proceed. 


Frosting. 

A pound of the best of fine white sugar, the whites of three 
fresh eggs, a teaspoonful of nice starch, pounded, and sifted 
through a piece of muslin or a very fine sieve, the juice of half 
a lemon, and a few drops of the essence. — 

Beat the whites to a stiff froth, then add them to the sugar, 
and stir it steadily until it will stay where you put it. It will 
take nearly two hours, perhaps more. Dredge a little flour aver 
the cake, and brush it off with a feather. This is to prevent 
the frosting from being discolored by the butter contained in the 
cake. Lay it on smoothly with a knife, and return the cake to 
the oven twelve or fifteen minutes. 


Another (measured). 

To a coffee cup of sifted sugar, the white of one egg, half a 
teaspoonful of powdered starch, and a teaspoonful of lemon 
juice. Observe the directions for making it, in the previous 
receipt. This will frost two small pans or one large one. 


Another way. 
A. pound of the best crushed or loaf sugar, the whites of three 
eggs, the juice of a lemon, and a teaspoonful of finely powdered 








FRUIT CAKES. 45 


starch. To mix it, put the sugar into a deep bowl, and pour 
upon it just cold water enough to soften the lumps, then beat 
the whites of eggs about half as much as for nice cake — not to 
a stiff froth; add them to the melted sugar, and set the bowl 
into a kettle of boiling water, and stir the mixture steadily. It 
will soon become thin and clear, and afterwards thicken. When 
it has become quite thick, take it from the fire and stir it till it 
is cold, and thick enough to spread with a knife. This is 
enough for a large loaf. 


FRUIT CAKES. 


Five pounds each of flour, butter, and sugar, six of raisins, 
twelve of currants, two of citron, fifty eggs, half a pint of good 
Malaga wine, three ounces of nutmegs, three of cinnamon, one 
and a half of mace. Bake in three large pans four hours. 


Another. 


Three pounds each of flour, butter, and sugar, six of cur- 
rants, six of raisins, an ounce each of nutmegs and cinnamon, 
half an ounce of clove; a pound of citron, the grated peel of two 
lemons, half a gill each of brandy and rose-water, or a small 
teaspoonful of the essence of rose, and thirty eggs. 

To mix either of these two receipts, stir the sugar and butter 
to a cream, beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately, and 
add them to the butter and sugar, then by degrees put in two 
thirds of the flour, then the spice and brandy or wine, and 
last the fruit, mixed with the remaining third of the flour. 
Have the citron ready cut up, and when you have put a little of 
the cake into the pan, put in a layer of citron, then more cake, 
and again citron and cake alternately. This quantity will bake 
in one cake in five hours, in two cakes, three hours.. Each of 
these two kinds will keep years, if frosted. 


46 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Maine Plumb. 

A pound each of butter, sugar, and flour, ten eggs, a pound 
of raisins, two of currants, half a pound of citron, a teaspoonful 
of powdered clove, half as much mace, a nutmeg, the juice of a 
lemon and the grated peel, and a half a teacup of good molas- 
ses. Before you proceed to mix it, scatter one teaspoonful of 
cream of tartar into the flour; and the last thing, before you 
put in the fruit, dissolve a half a teaspoonful of saleratus in a 
spoonful of boiling water, and add it, stirring the cake fast two 
or three minutes. Mix this in the same way as directed in the 
two previous receipts. If baked in a brick oven, bake it three 
hours in one pan; if in a stove, an hour and a half, in two. 

Although this cake has no wine or brandy, it will keep fresh 
(if frosted) almost any length of time. 


One Loaf (plainer). 

A pound each of flour and sugar, ten ounces of butter, nt 
eges, a pint of milk, two pounds and a half of raisins and cur- 
rants, a gill of wine, a nutmeg, a large spoonful of cinnamon, 
half a teaspoonful of clove. Add the same measure of cream 
of tartar and saleratus as in the last receipt, and in the same 
way, and bake the same length of time. 

To make just frosting enough for either of these two last cakes, 
take the whites of four eggs, if the weather is cold, three, if it 
is warm, cut them to a stiff froth, add a pound of finest sugar, 
and beat it two hours. Add lemon, rose, or any essence you 
prefer, and a teaspoonful of sifted starch. When the loaf is 
baked, lay on the icing with a knife, and return it to the oven 
fifteen minutes. 


Washington. 

To one pound of flour, put one pound of sugar, three quarters 
of a pound of butter, eight eggs, two nutmegs, one pound of 
raisins, and one of currants. 





RAISED CAKES. 47 


RAISED CAKES. 


Commencement. 

Four pounds of flour, two and a half of sugar, two of butter, 
a small quart of milk, half a pint of wine, eight eggs, two gills 
of yeast, two nutmegs, two teaspoonfuls of cinnamon, one of 
clove, or a little mace. Make up the flour, yeast, and milk, 
exactly like bread, and when fully light, add the other ingre- 
dients, and put it into deep pans. If the weather is cool, let it 
stand till the next day. When it is again very light, add one 
pound of currants and two of raisins; and bake two hours. 

This is excellent cake, and will keep good many weeks. 


Loaf. 

Three pounds of flour, two of sugar, one and a half of but- 
ter, two of fruit, six eggs, half a pint of yeast, a gill of wine, 
two nutmegs, a teaspoonful each of cinnamon and clove, and a 
little mace. Make up the flour and yeast with milk, just like 
bread; when it is very light add all the other ingredients, ex- 
cept the fruit. Put in the eggs without beating, warm the 
wine, and mix the whole very thoroughly. Then put it in pans 
and set it to rise till the next day, and when light enough to 
bake, put in the fruit as directed in the general observations 
at the beginning of this chapter. 


Another. 

A pound and a half of flour, one of sugar, three quarters of 
a pound of butter, a pound of raisins and currants, four eggs, a 
nutmeg, a glass of wine, a teaspoonful of cinnamon, half a one 
of clove. Make up the flour like bread, with a gill of yeast 
and new milk warmed. When it is perfectly light, add the 
eges without beating, and stir all the ingredients together 
thoroughly. Put it into pans, and when it has risen again, add 
the fruit, and bake it. 


- 


48 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Bread Cake. 

Five teacups of very light bread dough, that is wet with 
milk; three of sugar, two of butter, three or four eggs; or if 
they are scarce, two. Mix it thoroughly, using both hands. 
Flavor it with such spice, or essence as you prefer, and then 
put it into three pans such as you use for cup cake, and let it 
stand till perfectly light before you bake it. In winter let it 
stand in a warm closet, or some place where it will not become 
very cold, and remain till the next day. 

By the addition of spice, fruit, more sugar, &c., you can 
make it as rich as you please. 


Another. 

Take two cups of light dough, a small cup of butter, a cup 
and a half of sugar, one of sour milk, two and a half of flour, 
two eggs, and a teaspoonful of saleratus. Flavor it with nut- 
meg and cinnamon, or lemon. Let it rise in the pans. 


Another (plainer), 

To three cups of light dough, one of butter, one and a half 
of sugar, one of sour milk, a heaping cup of flour, a teaspoonful 
of saleratus, and some spice. Put the materials together as 
directed in the last receipt. 


CUP CAKES 


[The cup used as a measure for the receipts in this book is not the tea- 
table china cup, but the common large earthen teacup, except where a 
small one is specified; and the teaspoon used is neither the largest or 
smallest, but the medium sized. ] 


Howard. 

To ten cups of flour, put six of sugar, three of butter, three 
of sour milk (a little warm), eight eggs, a glass of wine, a large 
teaspoonful of saleratus, a nutmeg, a pound of currants, a pound 
of raisins. 





es 


CUP CAKES. 49 


Tunbridge. 

Four cups and a half of flour, three of sugar, one of butter, 
one of cream, one teaspoonful of saleratus, six eggs, spice, cur- 
rants, citron, and a little wine. 


Bridgeport. 

To one teacup of butter, put two of sugar, three and a half 
of flour, four eggs, one cup of sour milk, the jwice and part of 
the rind of a lemon, a small teaspoonful of saleratus and two 
cups of currants. Bake in small pans. 


Superior. 

One very heaping cup butter, two and a half of sugar, four 
eggs, four cups of flour, and one and a half of ground rice, one 
and a half of sweet milk, a nutmeg, a little grated lemon-rind, 
the juice of a lemon squeezed into the milk, and a teaspoonful 
of saleratus. 


Barnard. 

‘One cup of butter, three of sugar, four and a half of flour, 
four eggs, a cup of sour milk, the juice, and a little of the rind 
of a lemon, a teaspoonful of saleratus. 

It is a good way to use butter that has been kept a few days 
in a jar of rose leaves, for these cup cakes, and then very little 
spice is necessary. 

All delicate soft cake is improved in appearance by sifting a 
little fine sugar over the top, just as it goes into the oven. 


Mount Pleasant. 


Five teacups of flour, one heaping cup of butter, two cups 
and a half of sugar, one cup of sour milk, feur eggs, a tea- 
spoonful of saleratus, one nutmeg. 


Provence. 
Four cups of flour, one of sugar, one of butter, one of sour 


5 


50 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


milk, one of molasses, four eggs, one nutmeg, one small tea- 
spoonful of saleratus, and a pound and a half of raisins. 


Composition. 

A coffee cup of butter (small measure), two of sugar, three 
of flour, one and a half of good ground rice, one of sour milk, 
half a nutmeg, a little essence of lemon, and a large teaspoon- 
ful of saleratus; If you have sour cream, instead of the milk, 
use half a cup of butter. 


Diet Bread. 

Two cups of sugar, three and a half of flour, one of milk, 
four eggs, half a teaspoonful of soda, a teaspoonful of cream of 
tartar in the juice of half a lemon. Beat the eggs and sugar 
together, then add half the milk and flour; when these are 
mixed, the rest of the milk with the half teaspoonful of soda 
dissolved in it, the remainder of the flour, the lemon-juice and 
cream of tartar; and last, a little essence of rose. 


SPONGE CAKES. 


The goodness of all delicate cake, but specially of sponge, 
depends yery much upon its being made with fresh eggs. There 
are séveral ways of making this cake which all result well. For 
those who choose not to be cheated of eggs by the use of cream 
of tartar, two excellent receipts, and two different methods of mix- 
ing, are given. 


Two receipts for making it by mteasure are added, each of 


them perfect, if made right, and the last one requiring the least 
possible time and labor. 

For the old-fashioned sponge cake, beat the yolks thoroughly, 
and the whites to a very stiff froth, and mix the ingredients 
thus: Stir the sugar and whites together, then add the yolks, 
next the flour, and last, the lemon or spice, or, 

Mix the yolks and whites after they are beaten, and having 





we Ee 7 


- 


SPONGE CAKES. 51 


stirred the flour and sugar together, add them, and the spice. 
It should then be stirred fast two minutes, and baked in rather a 
quick oven. It is made sticky, and less light by being stirred 
long. ‘There is no other cake, the goodness of wnich depends 
so much upon care, and good judgment in baking. 


Lyman. 
To one pound of flour, put one and a half of sugar, fifteen 
eggs, the rind of two lemons, and juice of one, and a little salt. 


Brooklyn. 

To three quarters of a pound of flour, put one and a quarter 
of sugar, twelve eggs, and one lemon, juice and rind. A little 
salt. 


Measure. 

Twelve fresh eggs, three cups of flour, three of sugar, a lit- 
tle salt, and spice or lemon as you prefer. Break the eggs 
together, and put them without beating into the sugar, then beat 
steadily with a smart stroke half an hour, then stir in the flour, 
and bake in rather thick loaves three quarters of an hour. 

No one:but a person having a very strong arm ean make this 
kind of sponge cake well. It is elegant when well made. 


Another. (Berwick Sponge.) 

Beat six eggs, yolks and whites together, two minutes; add 
three cups of sugar, and beat five minutes; two cups of flour 
with two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, and beat two minutes ; 
one cup of cold water, with one teaspoonful of saleratus dissolved 
in it, and beat one minute; the grated rind, and half the juice 
of a lemon, a fittle salt and two more cups of flour, and beat 
another minute. Observe the time exactly, and bake in rather 
deep cup cake pans. 


52 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


VARIOUS KINDS OF CAKE. 


Queen’s. 

One pound of flour, one of sugar, half a pound of butter 
(that which has lain in a jar of rose-leaves is best), five eggs, 
a gill of wine, @ gill of cream, a nutmeg, half a teaspoonful of 
saleratus, two pounds of currants, or chopped raisins. 

Stir the butter and sugar to a cream, beat the whites and 
yolks of the eggs separately, and after they and the flour are 
also mixed with it, warm the cream and wine together, and add 
them, then the saleratus, and last the fruit. Frost it, or sift 
_ fine sugar over the top just before it is put into the oven. 


Snow, or Bride’s. 
A pound each of flour and sugar, half a pound of butter, and 
the whites of sixteen eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Flavor it 


with rose. 


Federal. 

A pound each of butter and sugar, a pound and two ounces 
of flour, a pound of raisins, five eggs, a cup of sour cream (or, 
if milk is used instead of cream, add a quarter of a pound more 
of butter), half a nutmeg, a wineglass of brandy, and a teaspoon- . 
ful of saleratus. Stir the butter, sugar, and nutmeg to a cream, 
then add the eggs, then the cream and saleratus mixed, next the 
flour (a little at a time), except a handful in which to mix the 
raisins, and last, the brandy and fruit. 

Very delicious for persons who like rich cake. 


Gold. 

A pound each of flour and sugar, three quarters of a pound 
of butter, the yolks of fourteen eggs, and the juice and grated 
rind of two lemons. Stir the sugar and butter to a cream, and 
add the yolks well beaten, and strained. Then put in the lemon 





VARIOUS KINDS OF CAKE. 53 


peel, and the flour (dried), and a teaspoonful of saleratus dis- 
solved in a spoonful of hot water. Beat it fifteen minutes, and 
just before it goes into the oven, stir in the lemon juice very 
thoroughly. Bake it in a square, flat pan, ice it thickly, and cut 
it into square pieces. 


Silver. : 

One pound of sugar, three quarters of a pound of dried flour, 
six ounces of butter, the whites of fourteen eggs. Add mace 
and citron. Beat the sugar and butter to a cream, and add 
the whites, cut to a stiff froth, next the flour, and then the mace 
and citron. Bake in a pan of the same size as for the golden 
cake. They are not difficult to make, and are very beautiful 
together. 


Jelly-Cake, or Washington Pie. 

Make cup cake, and when the ingredients are well mixed, 
spread it upon round shallow tins, three table-spoonfuls to each 
’ tin. It will bake in ten or fifteen minutes ; then turn it upon a 
hair sieve, the under surface uppermost. While it is warm 
spread upon it raspberry jam, currant, or other jelly; then lay 
the second sheet of cake upon it, the under side next to the 
jelly. If you wish to make several alternate layers of cake and 
jelly make the sheets of cake very thin; one large spoonful of 
the batter will be enough for each tin. 


White Mountain. | 

Six eggs, six cups of flour, three of sugar, two of butter, one 
of milk, one nutmeg, one teaspoon of saleratus. To mix it, 
stir the butter and sugar to a cream, beat the whites and yolks 
of the eggs separately; add the yolks to the butter and sugar, 
next part of the milk and half of the flour, and the whites, then 
the rest of the milk with the saleratus dissolved in it, and then 
the remainder of the flour, and last the grated nutmeg. 

5* 








54 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Lemon. 
A pound each of flour and sugar, half a pound of butter, 
eight eggs, the rind of one lemon, and the juice of half of one. 


Rice. 
Weigh nine eggs, and their weight in sugar, and the weight 


of six in ground rice. Add a lemon, and a little salt. Avery 


delicate cake. 


Another. 

One pound of sugar, three quarters of a pound of ground 
rice, thirteen eggs with the whites of four taken out,-a small 
teaspoonful of salt. Flavor as above, or with the essence of 
lemon. 


Pound. 

A pound each of flour, sugar, and butter, ten eggs, half a 
nutmeg, the juice and part of the rind of a lemon. Some per- 
sons use only fourteen ounces ‘of butter, and add a quarter of a 
teaspoonful of saleratus. 


Cream. 

Stir one teacup of cream, and two of sugar till well mixed, 
add two eggs beaten to a froth, and a little salt. Dissolve a 
teaspoonful of saleratus in a spoonful or two of milk, and add it. 
Then, immediately put in a cup or two of flour, and some 
essence of lemon, or other spice, and stir it a little. ‘Then add 
flour enough to make it as thick as cup cake; stir it well eight 
or ten minutes, and bake in common cup-cake pans. 


Harrison. : 

To two cups of molasses, put one of brown sugar, one of 
butter, one of sour cream, or milk, a cup of raisins, and one of 
currants, a teaspoonful of powdered clove, and two (rather 
small) of saleratus. 





CREAM CAKES, COOKIES, ETC. 49) 


To mix it, cut the butter in little pieces, and put into a 
saucepan with the molasses, to melt. When the molasses boils 
up pour it immediately upon three or four cups of flour, and 
add the sugar, and half the cream. Stir it well, then add the 
saleratus, the rest of the cream, the spice, and flour enough to 
make it of the consistence of cup cake, and last, the fruit. Bake 
in cup-cake pans, rather slowly. All cake containing molasses 
is more liable to burn than that which has none. 


CREAM CAKES, COOKIES, WAFERS, KISSES, JUMBLES, 
GINGERBREAD, ETC. 


[The eggs for these articles, except for the wafers, need not 
be broken separately, but yolks and whites may be added with- 
out beating, after the sugar and butter have been stirred. When 
all has been well beaten together eight or ten minutes, add part 
of the flour, then the saleratus and spice or ginger; and then 
place the pan upon a table, and work in flour enough to enable 
you to handle it without its sticking. 

Dough for cookies or gingerbread, is much more easily and 
neatly rolled out and stamped the day after it is made, than on 
the same day. In cold weather, set it when made where. it 
will not become hard, or else bring it into a warm room an hour 
or two before it is to be rolled out. Cookies should be about 
as thick as the end of your little finger; gingerbread half 
as thick. These things bake very quickly, and should be care- 
fully attended to. Sugar gingerbread should be cut up as it 
lies in the pan, before it has time to cool, and laid upon a 
sieve. It cannot be cut after it is cold without being very much 
broken. | 


Cream Cakes, 
A pint of water, half a pound of butter, three quarters of a 
pound of flour, and ten eggs. Boil the water, melt the butter 


56 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


in it, stir in the flour dry while it boils ; when it is cool, add a 
teaspoonful of saleratus, and the eggs well beaten. Drop the 
mixture on buttered tins with a table-spoon, and bake twenty 
minutes. 

To make the inside, take one cup of flour, two cups of sugar, 
one quart of milk, and four eggs. Beat the flour, sugar, and 
eges together, and stir into the boiling milk. When the mix- | 
ture is sufficiently scalded, season it with lemon. 

When the cakes are cool, cut them open and add the cream. 


Cookies. 


To one teacup of butter, three of sugar, half a cup of milk or 
cream, three eggs, one small teaspoonful of saleratus, and flour 
to make it rather stiff. 


Another. 


Seven teacups of flour, three of sugar, two of butter, one 
- of milk or cream, one nutmeg, three eggs, one large teaspoonful 
of saleratus. 


Wafers. 

One cup of butter, two of sugar, six of flour, half a cup of 
new milk, three eggs, half a nutmeg, a few drops of essence 
of lemon, and one teaspoonful of saleratus. Roll the dough 
thin, then take it up and sift a little white sugar upon the 
board, and lay it down upon the sugar and make it very thin. 
Then cut it in rounds, and with a wide knife take them 
from the board and turn them over upon the baking pan, 


so that the sugared side will be uppermost. Bake five or six 
minutes. | 


— 


Kisses, 
Beat the whites of nine fresh eggs to a stiff froth, then mix 
with it fifteen spoonfuls of finest white sugar, and five or six 





| 
. 


COCOANUT DROPS — GINGERBREAD, ETC. 57 


drops of essence of lemon. Drop them on paper with a tea- 
spoon, sift sugar over them, and bake them in a slow oven. 


Cocoanut Drops. 

Grate a cocoanut, and weigh it, then add half the weight of 
powdered sugar, and the white of one egg cut to a stiff froth. 
Stir the ingredients together, then drop the mixture with a 
dessert spoon upon buttered white paper, or tin sheets, and sift 
sugar over them. Bake in a slow oven fifteen minutes. 


Fruit Jumbles. 


A pound and a quarter of flour, a pound of sugar, three 
quarters of a pound of butter, five eggs, a quarter of a pound of 
currants, a gill or small teacup of milk, half a teaspoonful of 
saleratus, half a wine-glass of wine. Drop them on tins with a 
spoon, and bake in rather a quick oven. 


Hard Sugar Gingerbread. 

Two cups of butter, four of sugar, two eggs,a cup and a 
half of milk, two teaspoonfuls of ginger, and two of saleratus. 
Flour to make rather a stiff dough. 


Another (very plain), 

Ten ounces of butter, twenty ounces of sugar, a cup and a 
half of milk, four teaspoonfuls of ginger, one large teaspoonful 
of saleratus, a few drops of essence of rose, or half a cup of 
rose-water ; in which case omit the half cup of milk. 


Soft Sugar Gingerbread. 

Two pounds of flour, one of butter, one and a half of sugar, 
seven eggs, half a gill of rose-water or wine. To be baked in 
such pans as are used for cup cake. ‘This keeps good a long 
time, and is very nice. 


58 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Another (without eggs). 


One pound of butter, two of sugar, three of Bouts a pint of — 
milk, a large spoonful of ginger, two teaspoonfuls of cream of 
tartar mixed in the flour, and one teaspoonful of saleratus. 
Stir the butter and sugar to a cream, then add half of the milk, 
and a large part of the flour; then the remainder of the milk 
having the saleratus dissolved in it, and the rest of the flour. 
Make half the quantity for a small family. Bake it in cup-cake 
pans. 


Ginger Crackers. 

A pint of molasses, two cups of butter, one and a half of 
sugar, one teaspoonful of saleratus, and two of ginger ; add flour 
enough to make it easy to roll out. Stir the butter and sugar 
together, boil the molasses and pour it into the pan, and stir 
steadily until the butter and sugar are melted, then put in a few 
handfuls of flour, and add the saleratus. Stir it a few minutes, 
and then work in all the flour. To be rolled very thin, and 
baked but a few minutes. 


New York Ginger Snaps. 

Half a pound each of butter and sugar, two and a half 
pounds of flour, a pint of molasses, a teaspoonful of saleratus, 
caraway seeds, or ginger. Mix it just like the ginger crack- 
ers, and bake them thin. 


Soft Molasses Gingerbread. 

For three pints of flour, allow a pint of molasses, a pint of 
sour milk, or butter-milk, a gill of butter, half a gill of nice 
drippings, three teaspoonfuls of ginger, two of saleratus, and a 
very little salt. 

To mix it, boil the molasses with the butter and shortening 
cut up in it, and pour it hot upon the flour. Stir it a little, and 
then add the sour milk with the saleratus and ginger. Stir it 
well. Gingerbread is as much better for being thoroughly 
beaten, as any other cake. You can make it rather more deli- 








FRIED CAKES. 59 


cate by using butter only, adding a gill of brown sugar, and 
substituting cinnamon and clove instead of ginger. On the 
other hand, very good gingerbread is made by omitting the but- 
ter, and using shortening instead, and cold water or cider in 
place of the sour milk. A teaspoonful of salt is necessary where 
the butter is omitted. 


Hard Molasses Gingerbread. 

A half a pint of molasses, a gill of butter, half a gill of nice 
drippings, half a gill of sour milk, two teaspoonfuls of saleratus, 
and the same of ginger. Melt the butter, drippings, and mo- 
lasses together, and pour hot upon a quart of flour; add the 
ginger and saleratus, and when well mixed add more flour until 
it can be handled without sticking. Then roll it out about as 
thick as the little finger, stamp or mark it, and bake it in shal- 
low iron or tin pans. Bake it in a moderate heat. When 
done, cut it up before you take it out of the pans, as it cannot 
be done after it is cold without crumbling the edges. 

If you prefer to have it thin, and cut into rounds like cookies, 
it is a very good way. 

By omitting the sour milk ana adding a cup of sugar, a rather 
nicer gingerbread is made. 


Another. 

Melt one cup of butter in two of molasses, pour it hot upon 
a quart of flour; dissolve one teaspoonful of saleratus in & little 
hot water and add it. Put in flour enough to roll it out neatly. 
Make it very thin, cut it in rounds, and bake it quick. These 
cakes are very crisp, and keep so in a tin chest. 


FRIED CAKES. 
On Frying Cakes. 


[To have fried cakes good, it is necessary that the fat should 
be of the right heat. When it is hot enough, it will cease to 
bubble, and be perfectly still. It is best to try it with a little 


60 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


bit of the cake to be fried. If the heat is right, the dough will 
rise in a few seconds to the top, and occasion a bubbling in the 
fat; it will swell, and the under-side quickly become brown. It 
should then be turned over. Cakes should be turned two or 
three times. The time necessary to. fry them, depends on their 
thickness ; if about as thick as the little finger, they will be 
done in seven or eight minutes. It is best to break open one, 
in order to judge. When done, drain them well with a skim- 
mer. If the fat is too hot, the outside will be burned before 
the centre is cooked at all; if too cool, they will become fat- 
soaked, which makes them very unhealthy and disagreeable. 
The fire must be carefully regulated. A person who fries 
cakes must attend to nothing else; the cakes, the fat, and the fire 
will occupy every minute. The use of many eggs prevents 
cakes from absorbing much fat. But they can be so made 
without eggs, as not to take up much fat. ] 


Crullers. 

To two pounds of flour, put three quarters of a pound of 
sugar, half a pound of butter, nine eggs, mace, and rose-water 
unless the butter has been kept in rose leaves. 


Another. 

To six teacups of flour, put two of sugar, half a one of but- 
ter, half a one of cream, eight eggs, one nutmeg; or if more 
convenient, nine eggs, no cream, and a full cup of butter. 


Another (plainer, but very good). | 

To a pint of warm milk, put two spoonfuls of lard, and three 
of butter cut into little bits. Beat four eggs and five heaping 
spoonfuls of sugar together, and stir into the milk. Grate ina 
nutmeg, put in a very heaping teaspoonful of saleratus, and 
knead in flour enough to roll out. 


Cream of Tartar. 
Make them precisely like the cream of tartar biscuit (see page 





ON MAKING PASTRY. 61 


34), with the addition of five spoonfuls of sugar, half a nutmeg, 
one egg, and a small piece more of butter. 


Raised Doughnuts. 

Boil a quart of milk, and rub smooth in a little cold milk a 
large .gill of ground rice; when the milk boils up, stir in the 
rice and a little salt. Let it boil till it thickens, stirring it two 
or three times. Pour it, hot, upon a quart of flour; when cool 
enough, add a gill of yeast, and flour enough to make it stiff as 
bread. Knead it a great deal. Let it rise over night, and 
when very light, work in three quarters of a pound of butter, a 
pound and a half of sugar beaten in five eggs, and add nutmeg 
and lemon, juice and rind. Let it rise again, and then roll out 
and fry it. 

Light bread dough, which is wet with milk, may be made into 
plain, or rich dough-nuts, as preferred, with very little trouble. 
Prepare the dough as directed in the receipt for rusk, and add 
_ two or three eggs, if convenient. It is not necessary. 


Fried Biscuit. 

Work a piece of butter the size of an egg into a large pint of 
light bread dough. When it has risen again, roll it very thin, 
cut it into circles or squares, and fry them for breakfast. Eat 
them with salt, or with cider and sugar. All crullers and dough- 
nuts are much more healthful fried in clarified drippings of 
roast meat, than in lard; and it is, besides, goad economy. 


ON MAKING PASTRY. 


The flour, as in making bread or cake, should be sifted. The 
best-looking pastry is made with lard, but it is not so healthy or 
good, as that which is made with half or two thirds butter. 
Whichever you use, rub a third of it into the flour, but do not 
try to rub out every lump ; the less the hands are used the bet- 

6 


62 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


ter. Add cold water; in summer, ice water. If your crust is 
shortened wholly with lard, allow a teaspoonful of salt toa 
pound (or quart) of flour, and a small teaspoonful of saleratus 
to every three pounds. Sprinkle the salt into the flour, and 
dissolve the saleratus in the water. If butter only or chiefly is 
used, omit the saleratus. When you have put in the water, stir 
it quickly, rather stiff, with a knife. Do notimould it; it will 
make it tough; but when it is barely stirred together, put it on 
the board, roll it out, lay thin shavings of butter on every part, 
sprinkle a little flour over it, and roll it out again, then lay on 
butter as before. To avoid much handling of the crust, roll it 
so thin that all the butter will be taken up by two or three 
times rolling in. When it is all rolled in, fold up the crust in a 
long roll, and double it, laying the ends together; then lay it 
aside, and cut from it for each pie. In rolling out for the plates — 
press the pin equally, so as to make all parts of the same thick- 
ness, and as nearly circular as possible. Have the plates ready 
buttered, or greased with lard, lay in the crust, and see that all 
parts touch the plate. Take the dish up on the palm of the left 
hand, and with the right trim the edges, holding the knife under 
and aslant, and so cut the crust that the edge of the dish will 
be perfectly covered. People differ in regard to the proper 
thickness of pie-crust. A pie in which the fruit constitutes 
one third of the thickness, and the two crusts the other two 
thirds, although it may look more elegant, is neither so health- 
ful or good as one made with thinner crust and plenty of fruit. 
Some fruit requires thicker crust than others; for apple, peach, 
and pumpkin it should be thin as a common earthen plate; for 
juicy fruits, such as berries, cherries, currants, plums, and for 
mince, it should be a little thicker. Lay some of the trimmings 
round the rim of the plate to make the edge of the pie hand- 
some, and put the rest by themselves, and when there are 
enough, roll them out for an under-crust. 

In making cherries, currants, &c., into pies, use deep dishes, 
and be careful not to fill them even full, as the syrup will boil 
over, and thus, much of the richness of the pie be lost. There 
is one way effectually to prevent the loss of syrup. After you 





a 


ON MAKING PASTRY. 63 


have laid in the fruit, or mince, and rolled out the upper-crust, 
wet the rim of the under-crust all around with cold water [not 
omitting a single spot, if you do the syrup will escape at that 
spot |, and sprinkle a very little flour upon it, lay the trimming 
upon the rim, wet and flour that in the same manner, then lay 
the upper-crust immediately over, and press it down gently 
upon the rim. The flour and water act as a paste to fasten 
the crusts together. Trim the edge as before, and prick the 
top eight or ten times with a fork. This is necessary for the 
escape of the steam, and without it, the closing of the edge will 
not avail to keep in the syrup. It is a good way to invert a 
teacup in the centre of a juicy fruit-pie, as in making an oyster- 
pie. 

A clammy lower-crust is neither good or digestible. There- 
fore never fill pies made of moist materials until just before 
putting them into the oven. Squash pies, cocoanut, and Marl- 
borough puddings, &c., should not be filled until the last min- 
ute, and mince and stewed apple should only stand long enough 
for the upper-crust to be laid on. Pie-crust becomes yellow 
from standing long before being baked ; therefore, delay rolling 
out the upper-crust for any kind of pies until the oven is nearly 
ready. Pastry should be baked in a quick oven, to be light, 
and be slightly browned to be healthy. When you bake pump- 
kin and similar kinds of pies, if you have the least doubt whether 
the crust is well done, set the dishes a few minutes on embers, 
or the top of a cooking stove. This sort of pies requires nearly 
an hour to bake; more, if the dishes are very deep. When 
done enough, the top will be gently swelled all over, and in 
moving, tremble like jelly; if not done, the middle will look 
like a thick liquid. Most pies require an hour to bake; those 
made of stewed apple or cranberry, three quarters of an hour. 
Much depends on the kind of oven used. 

It is difficult to make flaky crust in warm weather. But 
cooling the butter and water with ice, and having the pastry- 
table in the cellar, will insure tolerable success. 

There is hardly another article of food in which so much is 


64 — THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


sacrificed to appearance as in pastry. Everybody likes a light 
crust, a little brown, and not excessively rich, better than one 
that is half butter or lard, and baked white. 

Cherries should not be stewed or stoned for pies. Apples, 
after they are parcd, cut, and cored, should be washed. Steam 
pumpkin and squash, or stew it with very little water. Meat 
for pies must not be chopped till after it is cold. 

After a little practice and observation, it will be just as well 
to omit weighing the materials for pastry. One very heaping 
handful of flour will make a common-sized pie; not, however, 
allowing for the flour to be used in rolling the paste. 

When all the pies but the last one are made, scrape the re- 
mains of crust from the moulding-board and the rolling-pin, and 
add any parings of edges that you have, work them together, 
and use for the under-crust. 

For almost all kinds of pies, good brown sugar is nice 
enough. The Havana is seldom clean. ‘The. Porto-Rico and 
Santa Cruz are considered the best. ‘The New Orleans is very 
sweet. 

“The very early apples, when used for pies or sauce, should 
not be pared, as the greatest part of the richness of the fruit, at 
that season, is in the skin. Some kinds are so delicate, that 
when stewed, the skin is entirely absorbed in the pulp, so as 
not to be visible, and the color, if it is red, is beautifully dif- 
fused through the whole mass. 

* 
Rich Puff Paste. 

‘For a pound and a half of flour, take one pound of butter; 
divide it into three parts, and reserve a third of the flour for 
use in rolling in two parts. Rub one third of the butter into 
the flour, add water enough just to make it a stiff dough, then 
roll it out, and put in the rest of the butter as directed above. 


A plainer Paste. 


Three pounds (or quarts) of flour, half a pound of lard, and 


a pound of butter. 





anil a 


-s 
PIES — STEWED APPLE, ETC. 65 


Good common Pie-crust. 
Allow one heaping handful of flour for a pie, and a table- 
spoonful of lard or butter for each handful. 


Bread-dough Pie-crust. — 
Take very light dough and roll in shavings of butter three 
times, using as little flour as you can. 


Potatoe-crust. 

Boil six good-sized mealy potatoes, and mash them fine; 
add salt, a spoonful of butter and two of water while they are 
hot. Then work in flour enough for making a paste to roll 
out, or put in two or three spoonfuls of cream, and no butter or 
water. This is a good crust for pot-pies or dumplings. 


PIES. 
Of Stewed Apple. 


Stew the apple with water enough to prevent its burning; 
sweeten and flavor it to your taste, and, while it is hot, add but- 
ter in the proportion of a dessert spoonful to a quart of apple. 
The spices most appropriate are nutmeg and lemon, cinnamon 
and orange. Two kinds are enough; one does very well. 
When you have laid the under crust in the plate, roll out the 
upper one, so that it may be laid on the moment the apple is put 
in, as the under crust will be clammy if the pie is not put im- 
mediately into the oven. | 


Another (without an upper crust). 

Pare and quarter fourteen or eighteen fair sour apples, 
weigh them, and make a syrup of the same weight of sugar and 
a little water. Grate off the outside of a lemon and set it 
aside ; take out the seeds, cut up the inside, and put it into the 
syrup. When the syrup is boiled clear, lay in half of the ap- 
ples and boil them, but not till they are very soft. Take them 


6 * 


66 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


out carefully, and lay them separately on a dish, so as not to 
break them. Stew the rest of the apples, and when they are 
taken out, boil the syrup a little while longer. Have ready 
three or four medium sized deep plates, with a nice paste in 
them. If any of the apple is broken or stewed soft, lay that — 
into the middle of the plate, then put the quarters around in 
regular tiers, one above another, so as to form a sort of half 
sphere or pyramid, then sprinkle the grated lemon over the top, 
and pour on some of the syrup. Bake in a quick oven half an 
hour. When they are taken out, sift fine sugar over the top. 


Of uncooked Apples. 

To eat immediately, the following is excellent. Lay the slices 
into the plate upon an under crust; fill it quite full; sprinkle 
the rim with a little flour, to prevent the upper crust from ad- 
hering to the under one. Bake forty minutes, or till the apple 
is tender, and then slide off the upper crust and add a small bit 
of butter, some nutmeg or lemon, and sugar to your taste. Mix 
them well with the apple with a silver spoon, and return the 
upper crust to its place. 


Another. 

The other method is to lay the apples into a deep dish with 
an under crust, and for a large family, no matter how large a 
dish is used ; grate a whole or half nutmeg over, according to 
the size of the pie, or if you have a fresh orange, cut small the 
peel of half a one, and sprinkle in with the apple; add a few sticks 
of cinnamon, a few little bits of butter, and lastly, put on as 
much sugar as your judgment directs. Cover it, and close the © 
edge, so that the syrup will not escape. Bake from an hour and 
ahaif to two hours. 


Another (sweetened with molasses). 

Make a plain crust, and line a deep dish; fill it with sliced 
apples, grate a good deal of nutmeg over them, and lay on two 
or three thin shavings of butter. ‘Then pour over a teacupful 




















- #% 
PIES — BERRY, ETC. 67 


or two of good molasses, according to the size of the pie; lay 
on the upper crust, and close it so that the syrup cannot escape. 
Bake it two hours anda half 


For directions how to make a pie. of Dried Apples, see the 
receipt for stewing them. 


Whortleberry. 

Fill the dish not quite even full, and to each pie of the size 
of a large soup plate, add four large spoonfuls of sugar; (for 
blackberries and blueberries, five). Dredge a very little flour 
over the fruit before you lay on the upper crust. Close the 
edge with special care. i 


_ Cherry. ‘ 

The common red cherry makes the best pie. Bake it in a 
deep dish. Use sugar in the proportion directed for blackber- 
ries. All cherries, except the very sweet ones, are good for pies. 


Cranberry. 

Take the sauce as prepared to eat with meat; grate a little 
nutmeg over it, put three or four thin shavings of butter on it, 
and then lay on the upper crust. If not sweet enough, add 
more sugar. Make it without an upper crust, if you prefer, and 
lay very narrow strips across diagonally. 


Green Currants and Gooseberries. 

These require a great deal of sugar, at least two thirds as 
much in measure as of fruit. Currant pies should be made in 
a deep plate or a pudding dish, and with an upper crust. 

Gooseberries should'be stewed like cranberries, sweetened to 
suit the taste, and laid upon the under crust, with strips placed 
' diagonally across the top, as directed for the cranberry tarts. 
Currants that are almost ripe make a nice pie, and require the 
same measure of sugar as blackberries. 


68 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Lemon. 

Make a nice paste, and lay into two medium-sized plates ; 
then prepare the following mixture. To the juice, and grated 
rind of one lemon, made very sweet with white sugar, add three 
well-beaten eggs, and a piece of butter half the size of an egg, 
melted. Stir these ingredients together, then add a pint of rich 
milk, or thin cream, stirring very fast. Fill the plates and bake 
immediately. | 


Another. 

An egg, a lemon, and a cup of sugar prepared as directed in 
the last receipt; then add half a cup of water, and two small 
crackers, pounded and sifted. Bake in a plate, with a paste. 


Rich Mince. 
To one beef’s tongue, allow a pound of suet, a pound of cur- 
rants, another of raisins, a pound and a quarter of sugar, half a 


pound of citron, eight large apples, a quart of wine or boiled . 


cider, salt, a nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, the juice and pulp of a 
lemon, and the rind chopped fine. Let the meat be chopped 
very fine, then add the apples and chop them fine also. Put 
the sugar into the cider or wine, and just boil it up so as to skim 
off the top; let it stand a few minutes, and then pour it off into 
a pan containing all the other ingredients. Be careful, in pour- 
ing it, not to disturb any sediment there may be from the sugar. 
Use loaf sugar if you choose. 


Another (not as rich). 

Chop the meat, apples, and suet separately, and then measure 
the ingredients thus: three bowls of meat, three of apple, one of 
suet, one of citron cut small, two of raisins, four of sugar, one of 
molasses, one of vinegar, one of some kind of syrup (quince or 
peach), or wine instead, if you prefer. Add powdered clove, 
nutmeg and cinnamon to suit the taste. 





| 
j 
| 
: 
; 
: 
. 


PIES — TEMPERANCE, PLAIN, ETC. 69 


Temperance. 

Boil five pounds of meat in water enough to have one quart 
when it is done ; chop the meat very fine when it is cold, and add 
a quarter of a pound of suet, or salt pork, three pounds and a half 
of sugar, three of chopped apple, two and a half of box raisins 
and one of Sultana raisins, one of citron, and a pint of syrup of 
preserved peach, quince, or both; or any other syrup you may 
have; add salt, nutmeg, and powdered clove. ‘To mix the in- 
gredients, remove the fat from the juice of the meat and put it 
into a kettle with the apple, sugar, raisins, and citron, and let 
them boil a few minutes; if froth rises, take it off; have the 
meat ready in a pan mixed with the spices, pour the mixture 
boiling hot upon it, and stir it together; add, if you choose, the 
juice and pulp of three lemons. This process cooks the ingre- 
dients so thoroughly that, if you prefer, you can bake the paste 
first and then fill the dishes ; and if you choose to reserve part 
of it, it will keep in a cool place several weeks. 


Very Plain. 

These may be made of almost any cheap pieces of meat, boiled 
till tender; add suet or salt pork chopped very fine, half or two 
thirds as much apple as meat; sugar and spices to your taste. 
If mince pies are eaten cold it is better to use salt pork than 
suet. A lemon, and a little syrup of sweetmeats will greatly 
improve them. Clove is the most important spice. 


Without Suet. 

Boil up a quart of good brown sugar in three pints of cider ; 
set it off, and after a few minutes take off the scum; then put in 
a pint of chopped meat, a quart of chopped apple, and four large 
crackers pounded and sifted. Add a grated nutmeg, a large 
teaspoonful of powdered clove, and any other spice you prefer. 
Make the mixture more sweet if you choose. Boil it again four 
or five minutes. ‘This will not keep so long as mince which 
contains no cracker. 


70 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


— 


Without Meat. 

To twelve apples chopped fine, add six beaten eggs, and a 
half pint of cream. ‘Put in spice, sugar, raisins or currants just 
as you would for meat mince pies. 


Another. | 

A cup of molasses, a cup of sugar, half a cup of vinegar, and 
Lalf a cup of butter, boiled up together for a minute. Then 
add three crackers pounded and sifted, a half a pint of chopped 
raisins, two beaten eggs, and spice to suit the taste. 


Peach. 

If the peaches are dried, stew them first in a little water; if 
fresh, pare them, but do not take out the stones. Make the pie 
in a large deep dish, and close the edge well, to prevent the 


escape of the syrup. ‘The free-stones are best, because most | 


tender ; the cling-stones require long cooking. " 
Rhubarb. 

Peel the stalks, and cut them into pieces about an inch long; 
lay them in a soft cloth in order to absorb some of the juice, as 
the quantity is very great. Put them in a sauce-pan and stew 
gently ; add sugar enough to make it sweet as you wish, but no 
water; cover close. Be careful not to stew it so long as to 
break the pieces. Lay it into dishes for the table, and having 
baked your paste of the right size, lay it over. Some persons 
prefer the rhubarb without spice. If any is used, it should be 
the rind of a lemon. 

Rhubarb tarts are good made, like the gooseberry, with a 
lower crust, and strips laid across the top. 


Squash or Pumpkin. 

To a pint and a gill of strained squash, put three gills of sugar, 
three eggs, two crackers, pounded and sifted (or four eggs with- 
out the crackers), a teaspoonful of salt, one nutmeg, a dessert 
‘spoonful of powdered cinnamon, or some essence of lemon, a 


a eee 


PIES — PUFFS. 71 
teaspoonful of ginger, and a table-spoonful of butter, melted in a 
quart of milk. Boil the milk. To mix it, stir the spice and 
salt into the strained squash first, then add the cracker, and 


‘sugar, and when these are mixed, pour in half the milk, and 


when this is well stirred, add the remainder, and lastly the eggs, 
which should be thoroughly beaten. If you make up two quarts 
of milk, use five eggs, and five pounded crackers, and double 


the other ingredients. 


Another. 

Six eggs, eight table-spoonfuls of strained squash, one quart of 
boiled milk, a little salt, two table-spoonfuls of rose-water, a 
lemon (juice and rind), sugar to your taste, a spoonful of butter 
melted. Grate nutmeg over the top. Mix the ingredients as 
directed in the last receipt. The mode of making pumpkin 
puddings er pies, may be almost endlessly varied. ‘They are 
very good without eggs, substituting a little more pumpkin and 
three crackers pounded and sifted, to a quart of milk; omitting 
rose-water, use cinnamon and a very little ginger. When you 
have only one or two eggs to a quart, use two crackers. 


Pufis. 

Make a rich paste of a quart of flour; after you have rubbed 
in part of the butter, cut the white of an egg to a stiff froth; 
reserve half a spoonful of it, and stir the rest, and the water into 
the flour with a knife; then proceed to roll in the remainder of 
the butter in the usual way. Cut rounds in the paste of the 
size you wish to have them, and twice as many as you intend to 
have of puffs. Then cut out of half of them, a small round in 
the centre, so as to leave a circular rim of crust. Take up 
these rims with a wide-bladed knife, and lay them upon the 
large rounds so as to form a raised edge, and with the knife lay 
them, thus prepared, on tin sheets, or a nice sheet-iron pan. 
Take a feather, and lightly brush the edges with a little of the 
reserved white of egg. This will make them brown handsomely. 
Bake them in a quick oven. Bake also the small rounds which 


a . oe 


72 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


were cut out from the rims. When all are baked, put rasp- 
berry jam, quince, currant, or lemon jelly in the puffs and lay 
the small rounds over it. Some people like them best, without 
covering the jelly. 

To make lemon jelly for the purpose, beat one egg and a cup 
of sugar together; when well mixed, add the juice of a lemon, 
and then two table-spoonfuls of cold water. Put the mixture in 
a shallow dish, set it on the stove, and stir it steadily, until it 
thickens, then take it off immediately. Be careful it does not 
boil. When it is cool, put it into the puffs. 


DIRECTIONS ABOUT PUDDINGS. 


THE eggs for all sorts of puddings in which they are used, 
should be well beaten, and then strained. If hot milk is used, 
the eggs should be added after all the other ingredients. Milk 
for pumpkin, squash, cocoanut, tapioca, ground rice, sago, arrow- 
root, and sweet potato puddings, should be boiled; for bread 
and plum puddings also, unless the bread is soaked in milk over 
night. When suet is used in puddings, it should be chopped 
fine as possible. 

In making batter puddings, but a small portion of the milk 
should he put to the flour at first, as it will be difficult to stir 
out the little lumps, if the whole quantity is mixed together at 
once. After the flour is stirred smooth, in a part of the milk, 
add the eggs not beaten, and beat the mixture well; then add 
the remainder of the milk, and stir all together till equally 
mixed. A flour pudding is much lighter, when the materials 
are all beaten together, than if the eggs are done separately. 
When berries or cherries are to be used, put them in last. A 
batter pudding, with berries, requires at least a third more flour 
than one without. For cherry pudding but a small addition of 
flour is needed. . 








DIRECTIONS ABOUT PUDDINGS. 10 


A buttered earthen bowl, with a cloth tied up close over it, 
is a very good thing in which to boil a pudding or dumpling; 
but some persons think they are lighter boiled ina cloth. A 
large square of thick tow or hemp cloth does very well; but if 
a bag is preferred, it should be so cut that the bottom will be 
several inches narrower than the top, and the corners rounded. 
The seam should be stitched close with a coarse thread on one 
side, and then turned and stitched again on the other, in order 
to secure the pudding from the water. When used, let the 
seam be outside. A strong twine, a yard long, should be sewed 
at the middle to the seam, about three inches from the top of 
the bag. When the bag is to be used, wring it in cold water, 
and sprinkle the inside thick with flour,* and lay it in a dish; 
pour in the batter and tie up the bag quickly, drawing the string 
as tight as possible. Allow a little room for the pudding to swell. 
(An Indian pudding made with cold milk, swells more than 
any other.) Lay it immediately into the boiling pot, and after 
ten minutes, turn it over to prevent the flour from settling on 
one side. If there is fruit in the pudding, it should be turned 
three or four times during the first half hour. Keep it covered 
by adding water from the tea-kettle if necessary, and be careful 
that it boils steadily. If it does not, the pudding will be watery. 
When you take it up, plunge it for a moment in a pan of cold 
water; then pour off the water, untie the twine, and gently lay 
back the top of the bag. Have a dish ready, and turn the pud- 
ding out upon it. A batter pudding without berries cooks very 
nicely in a tin pudding pan, set upright in a kettle of boiling 
water. 

To cut a boiled pudding without making it heavy, lay the 
knife, first one side and then the other, upon it, long enough to 
warm the blade. 


* Some persons prefer to spread the inside with butter and then flour it. 
Perhaps this method excludes the water most effectually. Either way does 
well. Always butter the dish in which a pudding is to be baked. 

ory 


74 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


If these directions seem needlessly minute, it should be re- 
membered that those things which seem perfectly obvious to 
the experienced, are often very perplexing to the uninitiated. 


Elegant Pudding Sauce. 

To four large spoonfuls of fine white sugar, put two of butter, 
one of flour, and stir them together to a cream in an earthen 
dish. Cut the white of an egg to a stiff froth, and add it; then 
pour into the dish a gill of boiling water, stirring the mixture 
very fast. Put it into the sauce tureen and add essence of 
lemon, or rose, or grate nutmeg over the top as you prefer. 


A Plainer Sauce. 

To three large spoonfuls of clean brown sugar, put rather 
more than one spoonful of butter, and half a one of flour; stir 
all together in an earthen dish until white, then add a gill of 
boiling water, and stir it steadily till it is all melted, then set it 
upon the coals long enough just to boil up. Add rose-water, a 
few drops of lemon juice, or a spoonful of boiled cider. 


Cold Sauce. | 

Take the same measure of butter and sugar as given in either 
of the above receipts, and stir them to a cream. Omit the flour ; 
but add the white of egg. . 


Sour Cream Sauce. 

Put together a cup of sugar and a cup and a half of thick sour 
cream. Stir the mixture five or six minutes, then put it into 
a sauce tureen and grate nutmeg over it. 

This sauce is specially appropriate for Indian puddings, 
baked or boiled, and for the boiled suet puddings. 


Apple Pudding. 
To a quart of stewed sour apple, put while it is hot, a piece 
of butter the size of an egg, and sugar enough to make it quite 


sweet. Beat it several minutes in order to mix it thoroughly. 





PUDDINGS —— MARLBOROUGH, PEMBERTON, ETC. 7d 


Beat four eggs und stir into it, add lemon or any essence you 
choose. Butter a cold dish thick, with cold* butter, and strew 
the bottom and sides with cracker crumbs, or very fine bread . 
crumbs ; then pour in the mixture, sift plenty of the cracker 
crumbs on the top, grate a little nutmeg upon it, and sprinkle 
it with sifted sugar. Bake forty or fifty minutes in one dish, 
or half an hour in two. It is as good cold, the second day, as 
when first baked. It is an improvement to eat it with cream. 


Another (Marlborough). 

Make a nice paste and lay into your dishes. Take one quart 
of strained apple, one quart of sugar, eight eggs, three nutmegs, 
a pint of cream, a quarter of a pound of butter, a fresh lemon, 
pulp and juice, and the rind grated. If you have no cream, 
milk will do, but it should be boiled, and half a pound of butter, 
instead of one quarter, melted into it. The apples should be 
very sour. ‘This will fill six deep dishes or soup plates. Bake 
three quarters of an hour. 


Another (Pemberton). 

To six large, sour apples, put a pint of cream, an ounce of 
butter, six eggs, one lemon, sugar to the taste. 

To be prepared exactly in the same way as the Marlborough 
pudding. 


Almond. 

Blanch (that is, peel off the brown skin) of five bitter, and 
ten sweet almonds ; to do this, easily, pour boiling water on them, 
then pound them fine ina mortar. Set a pail with a quart of 
rich milk into a kettle of hot water; when it boils, put in the 
almonds. Mix two and a half table-spoonfuls of ground rice 
smooth, with a large tumbler of milk, and stir it in. Boil it 


* In all cases, where the sides of a dish are to be strewed with crumbs, 
both the dish and the butter should be cold. 








76 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


half an hour, stirring it often; then add the yolks of three eggs 
beaten with half a coffee cup of fine sugar, and in about a 
minute take the pail from the kettle, and stir in another half 
cup of sugar. Pour it into a dish and set it away to cool. Cut 
the whites of the eggs, and a large spoonful of fine sugar to a 
stiff froth, drop them on the top with a large spoon, and set 
the pudding into the oven till the top is brown. To be eaten 
cold. 


Baked Batter. 

Allow a pint of cold milk, four table-spoonfuls of flour, two 
eggs, and a little salt. 

Stir the flour smooth in a part of the milk, then put in the 
eges without first beating, and beat them well with the mixed 
flour. Then add the remainder of the milk, and the salt, and 
when well stirred together, pour it into a buttered dish, and 
bake it half an hour. When it is done, the whole top will have 
risen up. So long as there is a little sunken spot in the centre, 
it is not baked enough. Make a cold or melted sauce as you 
prefer. This makes an ample pudding for a family of four. 
A flour pudding will not be light unless it is put into the oven 
immediately on being made. 


Boiled Batter. 

Use the very same proportions ;-butter a tin pudding-pan 
having a close cover, and put in the mixture; set it imme- 
diately into a kettle of boiling water. See that the water comes 
up high enough around it to cook the pudding, but so that it 
will not boil quite up to the top. If it boils away, add more 
hot water. 


Another. 

To a quart of milk put six eggs, eight spoonfuls of flour, and 
a teaspoonful of salt. To be boiled two hours. 

If you wish to make a nice addition to your dinner on short 
notice, prepare this batter, and butter little cups that hold about 
a gill, fill them three quarters full, and bake in the stove. 











PUDDINGS —RYE BATTER, BIRD’S NEST, ETC. 77 


They will bake in fifteen minutes. They should be turned out 
upon a dish, and be eaten with sauce. Such a pudding requires 
forty minutes to bake in one dish. 


Ryo Batter. 

To a pint of cold milk, put three heaping spoonfuld of sifted 
rye meal, a little salt, and three eggs. Boil it an hour anda 
half in a buttered bowl with the cloth tied very tight over it. 
The bowl should be of a size to allow a very little for swelling. 


Bird’s Nest. 

For a pint of cold milk allow three eggs, five spoonfuls of 
flour, six medium sized, fair apples, and a small teaspoonful of 
salt. 

Pare the apples, and take out the cores; arrange them in a 
buttered dish that will just receive them (one in the centre 
and five around it). Wet the flour smooth in part of the milk, 
then add the eggs and beat all together a few minutes; then 
put in the salt, and the rest of the milk. Stir it well and pour 
it into the dish of apples. Bake it an hour, and make a melted 
sauce. For a large family make double measure, but bake it in 
two dishes, as the centre apples of a large dish will not cook as 
quickly, as those around the edge. 


Bread. 

Take nice pieces of light bread, break them up, and put a 
small pint bowl full into a quart of milk; set it in a tin pail or 
brown dish on the back part of the stove or range, where it will 
heat very gradually, and let it stand an hour or more. When 
the bread is soft enough to be made fine with a spoon, just boil 
it up; set it off, and stir in a large teaspoonful of butter, a little 
salt, and from two to four beaten eggs. Bake it an hour. 
Make a sauce for it. To be eaten without sauce, put in twice 
the measure of butter, beat the eggs with a cup of nice 
brown sugar, a teaspoonful of cinnamon, and half as much pow- 
dered clove. 

7* 


ye 


« 


78 THE XOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Bread and Butter. 

Cut five slices of light bread across the loaf, very thin; 
spread them thick with butter; cut the slices in two or four 
parts; butter a dish and lay them in with a few dried currants 
between each slice. Lay them so that the top will be even, — 
and not quite as high as the dish; pour over them a quart of 
custard made with boiled milk, and five or six eggs, and fla- 
vored with peach and nutmeg. It will bake in less than an hour. 
Some persons prefer to toast the bread. 


Cottage. 

One teacup of sweet milk, three of flour, one coffee-cup of 
brown sugar, one egg, one table-spoonful of butter, half a tea- 
spoonful of saleratus. Melt the butter. Dissolve the saleratus 
in a little of the milk, and stir it in after the other ingredients 
are mixed. Bake half an hour. To be eaten with sweet 
sauce. 


Another (more rich). 

One teacup of sugar, three table-spoonfuls of melted butter, 
one egg, one teacup of milk, two heaping cups of flour, a tea- 
spoonful of saleratus or soda, and two of cream of tartar. If it 
is made with sour milk, the cream of tartar is to be left out. 
Cocoanut. BRE | 

Grate a cocoanut, and save the milk. Boil a quart of milk 
and pour upon it; add five eggs, with a coffee-cup of sugar beat- 
en in them, an ounce of butter, two table-spoonfuls of rose-water, 
a little salt. If you have cream and plenty of eggs, make it of 
cream instead of milk, and add three more eggs, and any essence 
or spice you choose, and bake in one dish nearly an hour; or 
_ make a nice paste, and bake it in three deep plates like squash 
pies, forty minutes. 


Cracker. 
To a pint of boiled milk, put four crackers, pounded and sift- 





PUDDINGS —FARINA, POTATO. — ae a 


ed, three eggs, and a small teaspoonful of salt. Add whortle- 
berries if convenient, and in that case, half of another cracker. 
Make a sweet sauce. Bake half an hour, or forty minutes. The 
same mixture made with cold milk is a nice pudding boiled an 
hour and a half. 


Another. 3 

_ Take the same proportions as in the previous receipt, of crack- 
ers, milk, and eggs; and add a cup of sugar, a table-spoonful of 
butter, cinnamon, a very little clove, and a cup of chopped rai- 
sins, and eat it with a sauce, or without. It is good cold. 


Farina. 

Two table-spoonfuls of farina, a pint of milk, two eggs, a 
small cup of sugar, and a half teaspoonful of salt; flavor with 
lemon or nutmeg. To mix it, set the milk in a pail into a kettle 
of hot water. When the top of the milk foams up, stir in the 
farina gradually, and add the salt. Let it remain in the kettle 
ten or fifteen minutes, and stir it repeatedly. ‘Take the pail from 
the kettle, beat the eggs and sugar together, and stir them in; 
add the essence, and pour the mixture into a buttered dish. 
Bake half an hour or forty minutes. No sauce is necessary. 


Potato. 

Weigh two pounds of good potatoes, after they are pared; 
boil them, and when done, dry them; then pound them well in 
the kettle with a pestle. While they are still hot, add half a 
pound of sugar and half a pound of butter, which have been 
previously stirred together to a cream; and last, and a little at 
a time, seven eggs, a glass of wine, and spice to your taste. 
Bake with or without a paste. Omit the wine if you prefer, 
both in this, and the next receipt, and use lemon-juice. 


Another. 
To half a pound of boiled potato, rolled or pounded, put two 
ounces of butter, two eggs, half a gill of cream, one table- 


80 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


spoonful of white wine, sugar to your taste, and a very little 
salt. Beat it to a froth, and bake with or without a paste. If 
it is wanted more rich, add almonds and another egg. 


Sweet Potato. 


Boil the potatoes and rub them through a sieve; add eggs, 
milk, sugar, and spice precisely as for squash pies, only making 
the mixture a very little thicker with the potato. Bake ina 
deep dish with a paste, or without if preferred. 


Sweet Potato Pone. 


Pare and grate several sweet potatoes, and to three pounds of 
grated potato add two of sugar, twelve eggs, a little more than 
three pints of milk, the juice and grated rind of a lemon, a quar- 
ter of a pound of butter (melted), a table-spoonful of rose-water, 
a nutmeg, a little cinnamon and mace, a teaspoonful of salt. 
Mix thoroughly together and bake in deep pans two hours. It 
is usually eaten cold, as cake. 


Plum. 


A pound of bread or six pounded crackers, one quart of milk, 
six eggs, a large spoonful of flour, a teacup of sugar, one nut- 
meg, a teaspoonful of cinnamon, half a one of powdered clove, a 
piece of butter the size of an egg, the same quantity of chopped 
suet, and a pound of raisins. Boil the milk. It is very well to 
soak the bread in the milk over night; then the entire crust be- 
comes soft, and mixes well with the other ingredients. 

These puddings are served with a rich sauce, if eaten warm, 
but are excellent cold, cut up like cake. People that are subject 
to a great deal of uninvited company, find it convenient in cold 
weather to bake half a dozen at once. They will keep several 
weeks, and when one is to be used, it may be loosened from 
the dish by a knife passed around it, and a little hot water 
be poured in round the edge. It should then be covered close, 
and set for half an hour into the stove or oven. 








PUDDINGS — RICE, GROUND RICE. 81 


Another. 

Soak a pound of soft bread in a quart of boiled milk till it 
can easily be strained through a coarse hair sieve; then add 
seven eggs, two gills of cream, a quarter of a pound of butter 
(melted), a gill of rose-water, or some extract of rose, a little 
cinnamon or nutmeg, and a pound of raisins. For a small fam- 
ily, bake it in two dishes, an hour; and reserve one for another 
day. ‘To warm it, see the directions in the last receipt. 


Rice. 

Boil a teacupful of rice in two teacups of water. When it 
has swelled so as to absorb the water, add a quart of milk and 
five or:six peach leaves, and boil it until the rice is perfectly 
soft. Take it from the fire, remove the peach leaves, add a 
small piece of butter, a little salt, and three or four eggs, beaten 
with a teacup of sugar. Put it into a buttered dish, grate nut- 
meg over the top, and bake three quarters of an hour. Most 
people prefer this pudding cold. 


Another (White Top). 

Prepare the same measures of rice and milk, and in the same 
way as in the last receipt. Boil the rice very slowly after the 
milk is added, so that it may become very soft, and not get 
burned. Break six eggs, the yolks and whites separate; beat 
the yolks with a large cup of white sugar; and stir them, with 
salt, and a small bit of butter into the rice arid milk. Then re- 
turn the kettle to the fire two or three minutes, and see that it 
does not burn. ‘Then put the mixture into a buttered dish, and 
cut the six whites and two large spoonfuls of fine sugar to a stiff 
froth. Flavor the froth with lemon, lay it over the pudding in 
folds like a turban, and set it into the oven long enough to brown 
the top. ‘Ten minutes will be sufficient. 


Ground Rice. 
To a teacup of ground rice, allow a quart and a gill of milk, 
six eggs, a heaping teacup of sugar, a piece of butter the size 


82 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


of a small nut, one teaspoonful of salt, and any spice you prefer. 
Rose-water and nutmeg are generally considered best. Bake it 
from three quarters to one hour. The milk should be boiled, 
and the ground rice wet with a part of it reserved for the pur- 
pose. When the milk boils up, stir in the rice; mix it thorough- 
ly with the milk, then let it boil up one or two minutes. When 
it has become a little thick, take it off, put in the butter and salt, 
add the eggs and sugar, and last of all, the spice. Bake it in 
one dish, in a moderately hot oven, an hour. If your family is 
small, bake it in two dishes, forty minutes. It is quite as good 
the second way as the first. 


Sago. 

A pint of milk, a table-spoonful and a half of pearl sago, two 
eges, two large spoonfuls of sugar, and half a teaspoon of salt. 
Wash the sago in warm, but not hot water, twice; then put it 
with the milk into a pail and set it into a kettle of hot water. 
Stir it very often, as it swells fast, and will else lie in a compaet 
mass at the bottom. When it has boiled two or three minutes, 
take the pail from the kettle, add the salt, and the eggs beaten 
with the sugar. Flavor it with vanilla or a few drops of essence 
of lemon, put it into a dish, and grate nutmeg over it. Set it 
immediately into the oven, and bake it about three quarters of 
an hour. If you make a quart of milk, three eggs answer very 
well. It should then bake an hour. With this number of eggs, 
the sago settles a little. To have it equally diffused take five 
eggs. 


Squash, or Pumpkin. | 

A pint of milk, a large coffee-cup of strained pumpkin or 
squash, two eggs, three large spoonfuls of sugar, a teaspoonful 
of butter, a little salt, a small teaspoonful of cinnamon, half as 
much ginger, and some nutmeg. 

To prepare it —first, stir the cinnamon and ginger into the 
squash, as, if they are added after the milk, they will float dry 
on the top; add salt, then the eggs beaten with the sugar; boil 














PUDDINGS— TAPIOCA. 83 


the milk and melt the butter in it, and add it slowly to the other 
ingredients, stirring fast meantime. Butter a cold dish with 
cold butter, and sprinkle the bottom and sides with sifted cracker, 
pour in the mixture, grate nutmeg over the top and then sprin- 
kle it with pounded cracker, sift white sugar over, and bake it 
forty minutes. 

To make a more economical pudding, use the same measure 
of milk, squash, sugar, ginger, and cinnamon, with but one egg. 
Stir a pounded and sifted cracker into the squash, before the 
boiled milk is added; simply butter a dish in the usual way; 
omit the nutmeg and also the sugar and cracker on the top. 

The receipt for squash pies (see page 71) is a very nice rule 
for a pudding; omit the paste, and substitute the cracker 
crumbs in the dish. Such puddings, when made with a quart 
of milk, should be baked in two dishes, because if baked in one, 
the edges become too dry, before the centre is cooked. 


Tapioca. 


To a quart of milk, put two thirds of a cup of tapioca, five or — 


six eggs, a dessert spoonful of butter, a cup of sugar, a teaspoon- 
ful of salt, and flavor with lemon, nutmeg, or extract of rose. Do 
not wash the tapioca, as the fine powder is the nicest part ; but 
pick it over carefully, and soak it over night in half of the milk. 
If you have not done this, and need the pudding for dinner, it 
will soak in cold water (twice as much water as tapioca) in two 
or three hours. Boil it in the milk, set into a kettle of hot 
water; stir it often, beat the eggs and sugar thoroughly, 
together; stir them and all the other ingredients into the milk 
while it is yet hot. If the pudding is put immediately in the 
oven, it will bake in three quarters of an hour, or a little less. 
Three eggs to a quart of milk will make a very good tapioca 
pudding. 


84 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


PUDDINGS WITHOUT EGGS. 


Berry. 


To a quart of washed whortleberries, put a pint of flour in 
which you have put a small teaspoonful of salt. Add a very lit- 
tle water. That which is upon the berries will be nearly 
enough. Boil it two hours in a cloth tied close, allowing no 
room to swell. ‘To be eaten with melted sauce. 


Another. 

A pint of berries, a pint of flour, a pint of sour milk, a tea- 
spoonful of salt, and one of saleratus. Boil it two hours. All 
boiled fruit puddings should be turned often in the pot, to pre- 
vent the fruit from settling on one side. Make a sweet sauce. 


Baked Indian. ‘ 

Boil a pint of milk, and set it off from the fire. Then stir in 
a large teacup of Indian meal, a cup of finely chopped suet, 
half a cup of white flour, the same of molasses, and a teaspoon- 
ful each of salt, ginger, and cinnamon. Grease thick a deep 
fire-proof patty pan, or a brown earthen one with a small top, 
such as are made for baking beans, and pour in the mixture ; 
then stir in half a pint of cold milk. Bake it in a moderate 
heat two hours. If you object to using suet, substitute two eggs 
well beaten. » An excellent sauce for this, and all kinds of In- 
dian pudding, is made by mixing sour cream and sugar, seasoned 
with nutmeg. 

The modern ovens do not bake this kind of pudding as well | 
as a brick oven. ; 


Another (with Sweet Apples). 

Pare twelve sweet apples and slice them, or take out the cores 
with a tap-borer. Stir up a pudding of a quart of milk, and 
almost a quart of Indian meal; the measure may be filled quite 
full by using a spoonful or two of wheat flour. Add some salt, a 








PUDDINGS — BOILED PLUM, ETC. 83 


teacup of molasses, and a little chopped suet. The milk should 
be boiled, and after it is taken from the fire, the meal and other 
ingredients stirred in. Then pour the whole over the apples. 
Bake three hours. 


Boiled Plum. 

Put to a quart of boiled milk twelve pounded crackers, a 
quarter of a pound of suet, a pound of currants, half a pound of 
raisins, a little salt, and a teacup of molasses. Steam in a pud- 
ding-pan, or boil it three hours and a half in a cloth or buttered 
bowl. ‘To be eaten with sauce. 


Railroad. 


One cup of molasses, one of sweet milk, one of suet or of salt 


- pork chopped fine ; four cups of flour, one teaspoonful of salera- 


tus, and if suet is used, one of salt, one cup of chopped raisins, 
one of currants. Warm the molasses and stir the saleratus into 
it; mix the suet or pork with the flour, then stir all together, 


_ and steam it four hours, according to the directions for Steamed 


Brown Bread (see page 31). Make a melted sauce, or the sour 
cream sauce. 


Rice. 

Wash a small coffee-cup of rice and put it into three pints of 
milk over night. In the morning add a piece of butter half as 
large as an egg,a teacup of sugar, a little salt, cinnamon, or nut- 
meg. Bake very slowly two hours and a half in a stove or 
brick oven. After it has become lfot enough to melt the butter, 
but not to brown the top, stir it (without moving the dish if you 
can) from the bottom. If raisins are to be used, put them in 
now. ‘They add much to the richness of the pudding. Itisa 
very good pudding for so plain a kind, and is very little trouble. 
For a Sunday dinner, where a cooking stove is used, it is very 
convenient, as it employs but a few minutes to prepare it in the 
morning. 

a 








86 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Sago. 

Wash six table-spoonfuls of pearl sago and put it to soak in a 
large pint of warm water. Pare six good-sized, mellow, sour 
apples, and remove the cores with a tap-borer. Wash them, 
butter a deep pudding dish, and lay them in, with the open end 
up. Measure a teacup of sugar, fill the holes with it, and then 
grate half a nuimeg over the apples. Dissolve a little salt and 
the rest of the sugar, in the water with the sago; pour two 
thirds of the mixture over the apples, and set the dish in the 
oven or stove. After one hour take it out, pour the remainder 
of the sago and water into the dish, and press the apples 
down gently without breaking them. See that none of the 
sago lies above the water. Return the dish to the oven and 
bake it another hour. It is to be eaten with sugar and milk, or 
cream, and is a very delicate and healthful pudding. 


Salem. 

Three coffee-cups of flour, one of milk, one of chopped rai- 
sins, one of suet or salt pork chopped very fine, two thirds of a - 
cup of molassés, a small teaspoonful of powdered cloves, half a 
nutmeg, a teaspoonful of saleratus, and if suet is used instead of 
pork, a little salt. Warm the molasses and dissolve the salera- 
tus in it, mix the suet, flour, and raisins, then put all the ingre- 
dients together. Boil or steam it four hours. Make a melted 
sauce. 


Suet. 

A pint of suet chopped very fine, a pint of chopped apples, 
two gills of milk, a gill of molasses, a large teaspoonful of salt, 
and flour enough to make it rather stiff. Boil it four hours. 
This, and the last before it, should be boiled in a close tin pail 
or pudding pan, in a kettle of water. 

Such a pudding as this is too hearty to be eaten after meat, 
and is substantial enough to constitute a dinner. 





APPLE DUMPLINGS. 87 


DUMPLINGS, FLUMMERIES, AND OTHER 
INEXPENSIVE ARTICLES FOR DESSERT. 


Apple Dumplings (boiled). 

Tue best and most healthful crust for them is made like 
cream tartar biscuit, or with potatoes, according to the direc- 
tions under the head of Pastry. It is better to make one or two 
large dumplings, than many small ones; because in drawing up 
the crust, there must necessarily be folds which, when boiled, 
are thick; and thus, in small dumplings, the proportion of crust 
to apple, is too great. Make a large crust and let the middle 
be nearly a third of an inch thick ; but roll the edges thin, for 
the reason above mentioned. Wring a thick, square cloth in 
water, sprinkle it with flour, and lay it into a deep dish; lay 
the crust into it, and fill it with sliced apples; put the crust 
together and draw up the cloth around it. ‘Tie it tight with a 
strong twine or tape, allowing no room for it to swell, and be 
sure to draw the string so close that the water cannot soak in. 
Boil a dumpling holding three pints of cut apple, two hours. 
When taken out of the pot, plunge it for a moment into cold 
water, then untie it and turn it out intoadish. Eat with cold 
sauce, or butter and sugar. Molasses and butter boiled to- 
gether make a very good sauce for apple dumplings. The 
process of boiling molasses takes away, in some degree, its strong 
taste ; and improves it for this purpose, and for making ginger- 
bread. All boiled dumplings and puddings should be put into 
boiling water. Some persons prefer to boil dumplings in a 
buttered bowl, with a cloth tied close over it. This is a very 
good way. 


Steamed. 
Fill a tin pudding pan or pail three quarters with sour, sliced 
apples, lay upon the top a plain crust about an inch thick. A 


= 


88 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


piece of light bread dough, with a little butter rolled into it, or 
a crust made like cream of tartar biscuit, is better than pie 
crust for this purpose. See that there is room for the dough to 
swell. Shut the lid close, and set it on the top of the stove or 
range, an hour and a half before dinner time. If the apple 
juice boils over, move the pan to a cooler part of the stove. 
Make a sauce, or use instead, butter and sugar. 


Baked. ! 

Pare large, fair apples, and take out the cores, lay each one 
into a piece of plain pie crust, just large enough to cover it. 
Fill the centre of the apple with brown sugar, and add a little 
cinnamon, or small strips of fresh orange peel. Close the crust 
over the apple, and lay them, with the smooth side up, into a 
deep, buttered dish, in which they can be set on the table. 
Bake them in a stove an hour anda half. If, after an hour, 
you find that the syrup begins to harden in the bottom of the 
dish, put in half a gill of hot water. Make a cold, or melted 
sauce as you choose. 


Blackberry (baked or steamed). 

Put a small cup of berries and two teaspoonfuls of sugar into 
a crust large enough to contain them. To close the crust well, 
dip your fingers in water and then in flour, and thus paste the 
folds together. Lay as many dumplings as you wish to have into 
a deep patty-pan, because blackberries are a very juicy fruit. 
Bake them an hour and a quarter in a moderate heat. Make a 
cold sauce for them. 

To steam them, put the fruit and crust into 4 tin pudding pan, 
exactly like steamed apple dumpling. : 


Roley Poley. 

Make a potato crust, or a paste of light bread, with butter 
rolled in, or one of cream tartar biscuit, as you prefer; roll it 
narrow and long, about a third of an inch thick ; spread it with 
raspberry jam or apple sauce; take care that this does not come 








POTATO STARCH FLUMMERY—GROUND RICE. + 89 


too near the edge of the crust; roll it up and close the ends and 
side as tight as possible, to keep the sauce from coming out and 
the water from soaking it. Sew it up in a cloth, and boil it an 
hour and a half or two hours, according to its size. Make a 
sauce. 


[The quart measure used in the following articles, and 
throughout this book, is the beer quart, except where a small 
quart is specified. In cooking such dishes as those which im- 
mediately follow, the milk should always, as in making custards, 
be boiled in a pail set into a kettle of hot water. They are 
much more delicate than when it is boiled in a saucepan; and 
then there is no danger of its being burned. ] 


Potato Starch Flummery. 

To one quart of boiled milk, put four beaten eggs and 
four spoonfuls of potato starch, wet in a little milk. Add 
the starch and a little salt first; then the eggs, and boil the 
whole a minute more. Take it up in a mould and eat it with 
sauce. Boil a few peach leaves in the milk if you like the 
flavor. 


Ground Rice. 

Measure a quart of milk, and then take out two cupfuls. Set 
the remainder into a kettle of hot water; then wet a teacupful 
of ground rice, and a teaspoonful of salt, with the reserved cold 
milk. When that which is in the kettle boils, add the ground 
rice mixture gradually, and continue to stir it, until it is well 
scalded, else it will be lumpy, or lie compactly at the bottom. 
Let it remain in the kettle eight or ten minutes, and stir it now 
and then. Just before you take it up, stir in a large table- 
spoonful of dry ground rice, and as soon as that is well mixed 
take the pail from the water-kettle, and put the mixture into a 
bowl, or blanc-mange mould, wet in cold water. If it is of the 
right consistency, it will turn out in good shape in fifteen or 
twenty minutes. To be eaten like blanc-mange with sugar and 

8 * 


90 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


milk or cream. It is nice cold, and if it is made for the next 
day, a half a spoonful less of dry rice will be enough. It should 
be only stiff enough to retain the shape. For this and all sim- 
ilar milk preparations, peach leaves are better than any spice. 
Boil in the milk three or four fresh leaves from the tree. Re- 
member to take them out before you stir in the rice. If you 
put in too many, they will give a strong flavor to the article. 
Experience will teach how many to use. 


Farina. 

Set a pail containing a quart of milk into a kettle of boiling 
water. Put in a few pieces of stick-cinnamon. When the 
milk boils, take out the cinnamon and add a teaspoonful of salt, 
and stir in, very gradually, four table-spoonfuls of dry farina ; 
beat out the lumps, and stir it often during the first ten minutes, 
then leave it to boil half an hour or more, remembering to stir 
it repeatedly during that time. Put it in a mould till the next 
day. Serve it as blanc-mange. : 

Made thin, like gruel, it is excellent food for young yichildeett 


Tapioca. 

Soak a cup of tapioca in a pint of cold water over night ; sho 
boil it in a pint of milk with a little salt. Add any essence you 
choose. It is very geod without. Serve it warm, and use 
sugar and cream. 


Sago Apple. 

Wash a table-spoonful and a half cf pearl sago, and put it 
into a teacup. of cold water to soak. Pare and slice very thin 
two fair sour apples, and boil them very soft in a teacup of 
water ; then add the sago and water with half a teaspoonful of 
salt, and stir it every minute or two. Boil it till the sago and 
apple are perfectly mixed, then add a large spoonful of white 
sugar, and boil it a minute more. Set it off and add lemon 
(the essence or juice as you prefer). Put it in a mould, and 
serve it like blanc-mange. 





SWEET DISHES. 91 


This is a very good article for an invalid, leaving out the 
essence. 

The same preparation of sago, and two or three table-spoon- 
fuls of currant jelly dissolved in it instead of the er is very 
pretty, and good. 


SWEET DISHES. 


[In making blanc-mange, custards, ice-creams, &c., do not boil 
the milk in a sauce-pan, but set it, in a tin pail, into a kettle of 
boiling water. The milk does not rise, when boiled thus, as it 
does in a sauce-pan, but when the top is covered with foam, it 
boils enough. , 

In making ice cream, it is an improvement to churn the 
cream until it becomes frothy, before adding the other ingredi- 
ents. | 


Apple Island. 

Stew apple enough to make a quart, strain it through a 
sieve, sweeten it with fine white sugar, and flavor it with lemon 
or rose. Beat the whites of six eggs to a hard froth, and stir 
into the apple slowly; but do not do this till just before it is to 
be served. The apples should be stewed with as little water as 
possible. Put it into a glass dish. Serve a nice boiled custard, 
made of the yolks of the eggs, to eat with it. 


Apple Snow. 
Put twelve large apples, without paring, into cold water 
enough to stew them. Boil them slowly; when they are very 


soft strain them through a sieve; beat the whites of twelve eggs 


to a stiff froth, then add to them half a pound of fine white 
sugar, and when these are well mixed, add the apple, and beat 
all together, until white as snow. Then lay it in the centre of a 
deep dish, heap it high as you can, and pour around it a nice 


Se Siig gaya so Siesta eats 


92 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


boiled custard made of a quart of milk, and eight of the yolks of 
the eggs. 


Floating Island. 

Put the juice of two lemons, the whites of two eggs, three 
spoonfuls of currant jelly, and a gill and a half of fine sugar 
together and beat to a stiff froth; then put it into the middle of 
the dish, dress it with sweetmeats, and just before it is served, 
pour into the dish cream enough to float it. 


Arrow-root Blanc-mange. 

To three large spoonfuls of pure Jamaica arrow-root, a quart 
of milk, a large spoonful of fine sugar, a spoonful of rose-water, 
and a little salt. Reserve a gill of milk to wet the arrow-root, 
and boil the rest. When it boils up, stir in the arrow-root, and 
boil it up again a minute or two; add the sugar, salt, and rose- 
water, and put it into the mould. 


Isinglass Blanc-mange. 

Wash an ounce and a half of calf’s-foot isinglass, and put it 
into a quart of milk over night. In the morning add three 
peach leaves, and boil it, slowly, twenty minutes or half an 
hour. Strain it into a dish upon a small teacupful of fine 
sugar. If it is to be served soon, add two or three beaten eggs 
while it is hot. Put it into the mould and set in a cool place. 
In hot weather this should be made over night if wanted at din- 
ner the next day, as it hardens slowly. 


Calf’s Foot Blanc-mange, 

Put four calf’s feet into four quarts of water; boil it away to 
one quart, strain it, and set it aside. When cool, remove all the 
fat, and in cutting the jelly out of the pan, take care to avoid 
the sediment. Put to it a quart of new milk, and sweeten it 
with fine sugar. If you season it with cinnamon or lemon peel, 
put it in before boiling; if with rose or peach-water, afterwards ; 
or, if you choose, boil peach leaves in it. Boil it ten minutes, 





SWEET DISHES — BLANC-MANGE. 93 


strain it through a fine sieve into a pitcher, and stir it till nearly 
cold. Then put it into moulds. 


Gelatine Blanc-mange. 

Allow a quart of milk: Take a quarter of a paper of Eng- 
lish gelatine, and put it into a gill of the milk to soften. Ina 
quarter of an hour, set the remainder of the milk in a tin pail 
into a kettle of hot water, with a few sticks of cinnamon in it. 
When the milk boils (or foams up) add a small teaspoon of salt, 
and stir in the cold milk and gelatine. Stir it steadily a few 
minutes, till the particles of gelatine are dissolved, then put it 
into moulds. If lemon or some other essence is preferred to 
the cinnamon, add it after the pail is taken out of the hot water. 
A beaten egg is an improvement. 


Moss Blanc-mange. 

In making this blanc-mange.as little moss should be used as 
will suffice to harden the milk. If the moss is old, more is 
necessary than if it is fresh. Allow half a teacupful for a 
quart of milk. Wash it, and put it in soak over night; in the 
morning, tie it up in a piece of muslin, and boil it in the milk, 
with sticks of cinnamon, the rind of a lemon, or peach leaves. 
Boil it gently twenty minutes or half an hour. Then put 
in half a salt-spoonful of salt, strain it upon a large spoon- 
ful of crushed sugar, and put it into a mould immediately, 
as it soon begins to harden. Eat it with sugar and milk or 
cream. 


Charlotte Russe. 

Make a boiled custard of a pint of milk and four eggs; sea- 
son it with vanilla, or any essence you prefer; make it very 
swect, and set it away to cool. Put a half an ounce of isinglass 
or English gelatine into a gill of milk where it will become 
warm. When the gelatine is dissolved, pour it into a pint of 
rich cream, and whip it to complete froth. When the custard is 
cold, stir it gently into the whip. Line a mould that holds a 











94 - THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


quart with thin slices of sponge cake, or with sponge fingers, 
pour the mixture into it, and set it in a cold place. 


Calf’s-foot Jelly. 

Scald four calf’s feet only aden to take off the hair, 
(more will extract the juices). Clean them nicely. When this 
is done, put them into five quarts of water and boil them until 
the water is half wasted; strain and set it away till the next 
day, then take off the fat and remove the jelly, being careful 
not to disturb the sediment; put the jelly into a sauce-pan with 
sugar, wine, and lemon juice and rind to your taste. Beat the 
whites and shells of five eggs, stir them in, and set it on the 
coals, but do not stir it after it begins te warm. Boil it twenty 
minutes, then add one teacupful of cold water and boil five 
minutes longer; set off the saucepan, and let it stand covered 
close half an hour. It will thus become so clear that it will 
need to run through the jelly bag but once. 


Another (made of English Gelatine). 

To one of the papers of gelatine containing an otince and a 
half, put a pint of cold water; after fifteen minutes, add a quart 
of boiling water, and stir till the gelatine is dissolved. Then add 
a coffee-cup of sugar, the juice of a lemon, and the grated rind, 
or any other spice or essence you prefer, and just boil it up a 
minute. Ifthe jelly is for an invalid, and wine is a part of the 
appropriate regimen, omit the lemon and spices, and add two 
gills of wine, after it is boiled. The gelatine is so pure, that 
the jelly need not be passed through a jelly-bag. This will keep 
several weeks in winter, and is convenient for persons who are 
in the habit of providing little delicacies for the sick. 


Almond Custards. 

Blanch and beat in a marble mortar, with two spoonfuls of 
rose-water, a quarter of a pound of almonds; beat the yolks of 
four eggs with two table-spoonfuls of sugar, mix the almonds 
with the eggs and sugar, and then add the whole to a pint of 








SWEET DISHES — BOILED CUSTARDS. 95 


cream, set into a kettle of hot water in a pail. Stir it steadily 
till it boils. Serve in little cups. 


Boiled Custards. 

Put a quart of milk into a tin pail or a pitcher that holds two 
quarts; set it into a kettle of hot water. Tin is better than 
earthen, because it heats so much quicker. Put in a few sticks 
of cinnamon, or three peach leaves. When the milk foams up 
as if nearly boiling, stir in six eggs which have been beaten, 
with two spoonfuls of white sugar; stir it every instant, until it 
appears to thicken a little. Then take out the pail, and pour the 
custard immediately into a cold pitcher, because the heat of the 
pail will cook the part of the custard that touches it, too much, 
so that it will curdle. This is a very easy way of making cus- 
tards, and none can be better. But in order to have them good, 
you must attend to nothing else until they are finished. You 
may make them as rich as you choose. A pint of milk, a pint 
of cream, and eight eggs will make them rich enough for any 
epicure. So, on the other hand, they are very good with three 
or four eggs only to a quart of milk, and no cream. 


Another (good, and very simple). 

Boil a quart of milk in the way directed in the preceding 
receipt, excepting one gill; beat three or four eggs with three 
spoonfuls of fine sugar; wet three teaspoonfuls of arrow-root in 
the reserved gill of milk, then mix the beaten eggs and arrow-root 
together, and add a little salt. When the milk in the pail boils, 
stir them in, and continue to stir a minute or two, till the custard 
thickens. Then take the pail to the table and pour the custard 
into china cups (as glass will crack), or else into a celd pitcher. 
Use what seasoning you please. The old fashion of using cin- 
namon is economical and very good. Boil some pieces of cinna- 
mon a few minutes only, in two or three spoonfuls of water, 
Put some of this into the custard, and put what is left into a 
a vial for another time. 

The Sandwich Island arrow-root is as good as the Bermuda 
for such purposes, and costs a third less. 


96 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Another (still more economical), 

Put a quart of milk, excepting two gills, to boil in a kettle of 
water; with the reserved milk mix three large spoonfuls of flour 
till it is entirely smooth; add a little salt, and when the milk 
boils stir it in. Let the mixture remain in the boiling kettle 
half an hour, or if most convenient, still longer, while you attend 
to other things; but remember to stir it often. Beat one or 
two eggs with two or three spoonfuls of sugar, and stir in. 
Then take the pail to the table, and when the custard has 
stood a few minutes to cool, add any essence you prefer. 


Baked Custards. 

Boil the milk with a stick of cinnamon in it, then set it off 
from the fire, and while it cools a very little, beat (for a quart 
of milk) five or six eggs, with three large spoonfuls of fine 
sugar; then stir the milk and eggs together, and pour into 
custard-cups, or into a single dish that is large enough. If you 
bake in a brick oven, it is a good way to set custard, in cups, 
into it, after the bread and other things have been baked. 
They will become hard in a few hours, and be very delicate. 


If you bake in a stove, or range oven, it is best to use a dish, 


and bake it in a very moderate heat, else it will turn, in part, to 
whey. 


DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING ICES. 


Mrx equal quantities of coarse salt and ice chopped small ; 
set the freezer containing the cream into a firkin, and put 
in the ice and salt; let it come up well around the freezer. 
Turn and shake the freezer steadily at first, and nearly all the 
time until the cream is entirely frozen. Scrape the cream down 
often from the sides with a knife. When the ice and salt melt, 
do not pour off any of it, unless there is danger of its getting 
into the freezer; it takes half an hour to freeze a quart of 
cream ; and sometimes longer. A tin pail which will hold twice 


FRUIT ICES. 97 


the measure of the cream, answers a good purpose, if you do 
not own a freezer. In winter, use snow instead of ice. 

Several nice receipts for ice-creams will be given under this 
head, but a common custard, made of rich milk, two or three 
eggs, and a little arrow-root, and seasoned with lemon or vanil- 
la, makes an excellent ice-cream. 


A rich Ice-cream. 

Squeeze a dozen lemons, and strain the juice upon as much 
fine sugar as it will absorb; pour three quarts of cream into it 
very slowly, stirring very fast all the time. 


Another. 

A quart of new milk, a quart of cream, a pint of sugar, 
three eggs, a large spoonful of arrow-root or ground rice, a piece 
of cinnamon. Boil the milk with the cinnamon in it; when it 
boils up, stir in the arrow-root or ground rice, wet with a little 
milk ; set it off the fire, stir in the cream, the sugar and eggs. 
The eggs should be beaten a good deal, and then beaten several 
minutes in the cream before being put into the boiled milk ; add 


' vanilla or lemon as you prefer. 


Another (simple, but very good). 

Heat a quart of milk quite hot, but do not let it boil; add 
the yolks of four eggs, beaten, with a large coffee-cup of fine 
sugar, and flavor with lemon or vanilla. a 


FRUIT ICES. 


Apricot. 

Pare, stone, and scald twelve ripe apricots; then bruise them 
in a marble mortar. Then stir half a pound of fine sugar into 
a pint of cream; add the apricots and. strain through a hair 
sieve. Freeze and put it into moulds. 

Peaches would be a good substitute for the apricots, using, if 


they are large, nine, instead of twelve. 


9 


98 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Strawberry or Raspberry. 

Bruise a pint of raspberries, or strawberries, with two large 
spoonfuls of fine sugar; add a quart of cream, and strain 
through a sieve, and freeze it. If you have no cream, boil a 
spoonful of arrow-root in a quart of milk, and, if you like, beat 
up one egg and stir into it. 


Currant. 

Take a gill of fresh currant juice, make it very sweet, and 
stir in half a pint of cream and freeze it. In the*winter, or 
when fresh currants are not to be had, beat a teaspoonful and a 
half of currant jelly with the juice of one lemon, sweetened, 
and put to it half a pint of cream. 


Lemon. 

Having squeezed your lemons, add sugar enough to the juice, 
to make it quite sweet, and about a third as much water as to 
make lemonade ; strain it, and then freeze it. 


Imperial Cream. 

Boil a quart of cream with the thin rind of a lemon; then 
stir it till nearly cold; have ready, in the dish in which it is to 
be served, the juice of three lemons, strained, with as much 
sugar as will sweeten the cream ; pour the cream into the dish, 
from a teapot or pitcher, holding it high and moving it about 
so as to mix thoroughly with the juice. It should be made six 
hours before being served. Eat with sweetmeats, apple island, 
or apple-pie. 


Snow Cream. 

To a quart of cream add the whites of three eggs, cut to a 
stiff froth, four spoonfuls of sweet wine, sugar to your taste, 
and a little essence of lemon, or the grated rind; whip it to a 
froth, and serve in a glass dish. 

If you have not a whisk such as is made expressly to whip 
cream, it can be easily, though not as quickly done, with a spoon. 








WINE CUSTARD — STAINED FROTH. og 
After the materials are mixed, beat them, not over and over 
like the yolks of eggs, but back and forth, keeping the spoon 
below the surface; and as fast as the froth forms, take it off 
and lay it into the dish, or glasses, for the table. - It will not 
return to the liquid state. If it were to stand several days it 
would become crisped in the form in which it was left. 


Wine Custard. 

Beat the yolks of three eggs with two spoonfuls of crushed 
sugar, and cut the whites to a stiff froth; put them into the 
dish which is to go to the table, and add a quart of milk, and a 
few drops of peach or rose-water, and when these are well 
mixed, stir in a spoonful and a half of rennet wine. In celd 
weather, the milk should be warmed a little; in warm weather 
it is not necessary. It should be immediately set where it will 
not be disturbed. It will harden soon, perhaps in five minutes. 
This depends somewhat on the strength of the rennet, and the 
measure of wine necessary to harden a quart of milk will de- 
pend on this. Sometimes a spoonful will prove enough: There 
is no way to judge but by trying, as in using rennet for making 
cheese. The strength of this article varies exceedingly. 

It is a very good, and more economical way to warm the milk 
a little, sweeten it, and add nothing but the rennet wine, and 
grate nutmeg over the top. Soda biscuit or butter crackers are 
good with wine custard. 


Stained Froth. 
Take the whites of three or four eggs, and cut them to a stiff 
froth, then beat into them the syrup of damsons, blood-peaches, 


or any highly colored preserve. This makes an elegant addi- | 


tion to a dish of soft custard. Some persons, when making cus- 
tards, lay the white of eggs, cut in this way, upon the top of the 
boiling milk for a minute or two. This hardens it, and it is 
taken off upon a dish, and when the custard glasses are filled, a 
piece of it is laid upon the top of each. 


- 
oe 


100 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


TO PRESERVE FRUIT AND MAKE 
JELLIES. 


A KETTLE should be kept on purpose. Brass, if very bright, 
will do. If acid fruit is preserved in a brass kettle which is not 
bright, it becomes poisonous. Bell-metal is better than brass, 
and the iron ware lined with porcelain, best of all. 

The chief art in making nice preserves, and such as will keep, 
consists in the proper preparation of the syrup, and in boiling 
them just long enough. English housekeepers think it necessary 
to do them very slowly, and they boil their sweetmeats almost 
all day, in a jar set into a kettle of water. Brown sugar should 
be clarified. The crushed and granulated sugars are usually so 
pure as not to require being clarified. Loaf sugar is the best of 
any. Clean brown sugar makes very good sweatmeats for fam- 
ily use; but the best of sugar is, for most fruits, necessary, to 
make such as will be elegant, and keep long. 

Sweetmeats should be boiled very gently lest the syrup should 
burn, and also that the fruit may become thoroughly penetrated 
with the sugar. Furious boiling breaks small and tender fruits. 
Too long boiling makes sweetmeats dark, and some kinds are 
rendered hard and tough. 

Preserves keep best in glass jars, which have also this advan- 
tage, that you can see whether or not fermentation has com- 
menced, without opening them. If stone jars are used, those 
with narrow mouths are best, as the air is most easily excluded 
from them; and small sized ones, containing only enough for 
once or twice, are best, as the frequent opening of a large jar, 
injures its entire contents, by the repeated admission of the air. 
When sweetmeats are cold, cover them close, and if not to be 
used soon, paste a paper over the top, and with a feather, brush 
over the paper with white of egg. When you have occa- 
sion to open them, if a thick, leather-looking mould covers them, 
they are in a good state, as nothing so effectually shuts out the 
air; but if they are specked here and there with mould, taste 





PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 101 


them, and if they are injured, it should be carefully removed, 
and the jar set into a kettle of water (not hot at first, lest the 
it should crack) and boiled. If the taste shows them to be un- 
injured, this mould may be the beginning of a leather-mould ; 
therefore wait a few days, and look at them again, and scald 
them if necessary. A very good way of scalding them, and 
perhaps the easiest, is to put the jar (if it is of stone ware) into 
a brick oven as soon as the bread is drawn, and let it stand three 
or four hours. If the oven is quite warm a shorter time will do. 
This, or setting the jar into a kettle of water, as mentioned 
above, is much better than to scald them in the ordinary way, 
as they are exposed to the air when poured into the preserving 
kettle, and also when returned to the jar. 

In making jellies, the sugar should be heated and should not 
be added, until the fruit-juice boils; and for this reason, — that 
the process is completed in much less time than if they are put 
tegether cold. ‘Thus the diminution of the quantity, which long 
boiling occasions, is avoided, and the color of the jelly is much 
finer. Sometimes ladies complain that, for some inexplicable 
reason, they cannot make their currant jelly harden. The true 
reason was doubtless this, —that while making it, it was suf- 
fered to stop boiling for a few minutes. Let it boil gently but 
steadily, until by taking a little of it into a cold silver spoon, 
you perceive that it quickly hardens around the edges. A prac- 
tised eye will readily judge by the movement of the liquid as it 
boils. Put jelly in little jars, cups, or tumblers; when it is 
cold, paste paper over the tap and brush it over with white of 
egg. When ¢his is used, the old method of putting brandy 
papers upon jelly is unnecessary. Particular attention ws re- 
quested to these suggestions in regard to making jellies. 


To make Syrup for Preserves. 

Put a large teacup of water for every pound of sugar. As it 
begins to heat, stir it often. When it rises towards the top of 
the kettle, put in a cup of water; repeat this process two or 
three times, then set the kettle aside. If the sugar is perfectly 

9 * 


102 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


pure, there will be no scum on the top. If there is scum, after 
it has stood a few minutes, take it off carefully. Ifthe syrup 
then looks clear, it is not necessary to strain it, 

To clarify sugar, put into every two pounds a beaten white of 
an egg. Five whites will do for a dozen pounds. Proportion 
the sugar and water as directed above, and after it has boiled 
enough take it from the fire, and let it stand ten minutes, then 
take the scum very carefully from the top, and pour off the 
syrup so gently as not to disturb the sediment. Have the kettle 
washed, return the syrup, and add the fruit. Some persons 
always strain the syrup through a flannel bag, but if the above 
directions are observed, it is not necessary. To use a flannel 
bag, always wring it very dry in hot water. This prevents a 
waste of the article strained. The bag should be soft, and not 
fulled up. 


+s 


To preserve Apples. 

Weigh equal quantities of Newtown pippins, and the best of 
sugar; allow one sliced lemon for every pound. Make a syrup, 
and then put in the apples. Boil them until they are tender ; 
then lay them into the jars and boil the syrup until it will be- 
come a jelly. No other apple can be preserved without break- 
ing. This keeps its shape, and is very beautiful. Quarter the 
apples, or take out the core and leave them whole, as you prefer. 
Other sour hard apples are very good preserved, but none keep | 
as well, or are as handsome as the Newtown pippins. 


Crab Apples. 

Weigh them, and put them into water enough to almost, but 
not quite, cover them. ‘Take them out when they have boiled 
three or four minutes, and put into the water as many pounds - 
of sugar as you have of fruit, and boil it till clear, then set it 
aside till it is cold; skim it, and return the fruit to the kettle, and 
put it again on the fire. The moment it actually boils take it 
off; lay the fruit into the jar with care, so as not to break it. 





PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 103 


Pine-apples. 

Take equal quantities of pine-apple and the best of loaf sugar. 
Slice the pine-apple, put nearly or all the sugar over it. Put it 
in a deep pan, and let it stand all night. In the morning. take 
the apple out and boil the syrup. When it begins to simmer, 
put the apple in and boil fifteen or twenty minutes. Tie a 
piece of white ginger in a bit of muslin, and boil it in the syrup 
before adding-the apple. After boiling the whole ten or fifteen 
minutes, take out the apple and boil the syrup ten minutes 
longer ; then pour it over the pine-apple. The apples should 
be ripe, and yet perfectly sound. If the syrup does not taste 
enough of ginger, boil it with the ginger till it suits the taste. 


Pine-apples (without boiling). 

Select large, fresh pine-apples. Pare them with avery sharp 
knife, having a thin blade. Carefully remove the little prickly 
eyes. Slice the fruit round and round about half an inch thick. 
. Weigh a pound and a quarter of best granulated sugar, toa 
pound of fruit; and put into a glass jar a layer of sugar, and 
then a layer of fruit till it is filled. Make the layers of sugar 
very thick, else you will have a quantity left when the fruit is 
all Jaid in. Cover the jar close, and set it in a very cold place. 
This will keep perfectly, and have the taste of freshly sugared 
pine-apples a year afterward. 


Blackberries. 

To a pound of the low, running blackberries, allow a pound of 
fine sugar. Put them together in the préserving kettle, the 
fruit first, and the sugar on the top. These berries are so juicy 
that no water will be necessary; but they must begin very 
slowly to stew, and boil gently an hour. If blackberries are 
well done at first, they will not need scalding afterwards. 

The high blackberries are not good preserved, but make an 
excellent syrup for medicinal purposes. 


104 . THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Currants. 

Weigh equal quantities of sugar, and fruit stripped from the 
stems. Boil the fruit ten minutes, stirring it often, and crushing 
it. Add the sugar, and boil another ten minutes. Measure the 
time from the minute boiling commences. ‘This keeps till cur- 
rants come again. Clean brown sugar does very well. If it is 
to be used up in the course of the autumn, ten or twelve ounces 
of sugar to a pound of fruit is enough. 


Cranberries. 


Pour scalding water upon them, as this will make it much 
more easy to separate the defective ones from the good, than if 
they are washed in cold water. Measure the fruit, and allow 
two quarts of sugar for five of fruit. Boil the cranberries till 
they are soft in half as much water as fruit. Stir them very 
often. When they are soft add the sugar, and boil gently as 
possible half an hour more. ‘They are very liable to burn, and 
therefore should be carefully attended to. If you like cran- 
berry sauce very sweet, allow a pound of sugar for a pound of 
fruit. 

Cranberries keep very well in a firkin of water in the cellar, 
and if so kept, can be stewed fresh at any time during the win- 
. ter. 


Damsons. 


Wash, drain, and weigh them, put them into the kettle, and 
add the same weight of sugar and (to six or eight pounds) a 
pint of water. Boil them gently but steadily an hour; press 
the top ones down carefully, several times. They will break 
some, and the pricking each one with a needle before stewing 
them, makes little, if any difference. But they break less than 
other small plums, and are more solid. The syrup gives an 
elegant color to a beaten white of egg, for ornamenting custards 
or delicate puddings. 

Other small sized blue plums are preserved in the same way. 





» 


PRESERVES — EGG PLUMS, PEACHES. 105 


Egg Plums. 


To make the most. elegant of all plum sweetmeats, take the 
Duane, or the Egg plums, ripe, but not very ripe. The skin 
can usually be pulled off. If you cannot remove it without 
tearing the fruit pour on boiling water, and instantly pour it off, 
or lay them into a cullender, and dip boiling water over them 
once. Allow equal quantities of fruit and sugar, and make the 
syrup in the usual way. Then lay in a few plums at a time, 
and boil gently five minutes; lay them into a jar as you take 
them from the kettle, and when all are done, pour the boiling 
syrup over them. After two days, drain off the syrup, boil it, 
and pour it upon them again. Do this every two or three days 
till they look clear. ‘Then, if you wish the syrup to be very 
thick, boil it half an hour, and when cold, pour it upon the 
plums. 


Peaches. 

Select peaches that are ripe, but not soft. Pour boiling 
water upon them, and let it stand five or six minutes ; then pour 
it off, and pull off the skins. This is the easiest way, and the 
most economical, as none of the peach is wasted with the skin. 
In a lot of peaches for preserving, there may be a few that you 
will have to pare; but most of them will part with the skin 
when scalded, except the cling-stones. 

Weigh equal quantities of fruit (with the stones a and fine 
sugar, and put them together in an earthen pan over night. 
The next day pour off the syrup, and boil it a few minutes; 
then set off the kettle and remove the scum. Return the kettle 
to the fire, and when it boils lay the peaches into it. Boil them 
very slowly three quarters of an hour, then lay them into the 
jars ; boil the syrup fifteen minutes more, and pour over them. 

The blood peaches are a beautiful fruit when preserved. The | 
yellow cling-stone is handsome, but very inconvenient as the 
fruit adheres so closely to the stone. Almost any kind of peach 
is good, stewed in half a pound of clean brown sugar to a 
pound of stoned fruit,-and will keep several weeks in the 
autumn. 


= 


106 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Pears. 

Weigh three quarters of a pound of sugar for a pound of 

-pears. Boil the fruit whole, with the stems on in barely water 

enough to cover them, till they are tender, but not very soft. 
Then take them from the kettle, and put in the sugar, boil it ten 
or fifteen minutes, then set it off, and after removing the scum, 
put in the pears, and boil them till they begin to have a clear 
look. The difference in the size, and in the solidity of this 
fruit is so great that exact directions as to time cannot be given. 
When you have laid the pears into jars, boil the syrup another 
half hour, skim it if necessary, and then pour it upon the fruit. 
If you wish to give a more decided flavor to preserved pears, 
add peach water, or sliced lemons, when the syrup is boiling. 
Clean brown sugar does very well for preserving this fruit. 

In selecting pears to preserve, choose such as are rather acid. 
The sweet ones are best baked. The Jron pears, if you will 
have patience to boil them long enough, make an excellent pre- 
serve. Divide them into halves or quarters if you choose. But 
they are often done whole. Boil them in just water enough, 
covered close, two or three hours. Make a syrup as directed 
above, and boil them in it an hour and a half. 


Quinces. 


Procure the apple, or orange quince. It is much less apt to 
be hard, when preserved, than the pear quince. Pare and core 
the fruit, and allow equal weights of fruit and fine sugar. Boil 
quinces in water enough to cover them, till they are tender ; 
then take them out one by one with a silver spoon and lay them 
separately on a flat dish. Make a syrup and save all the water 
not used for it. When it is ready, return the fruit to the kettle, 
and boil it slowly three quarters of an hour, then lay it in jars, 
and pour the syrup over it. It is a good way to cut part of the 
quinces in halves, and preserve a part of them whole. Remove 
the cores with a fruit-corer, or if you have not this, use a com- 
mon tap-borer ; it answers the purpose very well. 





PRESERVES —QUINCES. 107 


Quinces with Sweet Apples. 

To increase the quantity, without an addition of sugar, have 
as many large fair sweet apples pared, quartered, and cored, as 
will weigh one third as much as the quince. When the quince 
is boiled enough take it out, and put the sweet apples into the 
syrup, and boil them till they begin to look red and clear; an 
hour and a half will not be too long. ‘Then put the quince and 
apple into the jars in alternate layers. The flavor of the quince 
will so entirely penetrate the apple, that the one cannot be dis- 
tinguished from the other, and the sugar necessary to preserve 
the quince, will be sufficient for the apple. 


Quinces (without boiling the Syrup). 

Weich twelve ounces of sugar for every pound of fruit. Beil 
the quinces in water enough to cover them, until they are so 
soft that care is necessary not to break them, in taking them 
out. Drain the pieces a little as you take them from the water, 
and put them into a jar in alternate layers with the sugar. 
’ Cover the jar close as soon as it 1s filled, and paste a paper over 
the top. Quinces done in this way are very elegant, about the 
color of oranges, and probably will not need scalding to keep 
them as long as you wish. If any tendency to fermentation 
appears, as may be the case by the following April or May, set 
the jar (if it is stone) into a brick oven after bread has been 
baked, and the quince will become a beautiful light red, and will 
keep almost any length of time, and never become hard. 

It may be well to mention that in damp houses, none of the 
fruits preserved without boiling keep as well as those which are 
boiled. I have known a very few instances in which persons 
who were skilful in all these things did not succeed in preserv- 
ing fruits in this way. 

The water in which quinces are boiled should be saved. Boil 
the parings in it for a short time, if you intend to make a jelly, 
as long boiling them will make the water less clear. If you do 
not make jelly, boil the parings a good while, then strain off the 
water, and when it is cold bottle it. It will keep without the 


. in 
108 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


addition of sugar two or three weeks, and will give a fine flavor 
to apple-pies or sauce. There is so much richness in the par- 
ings of quinces that they should never be thrown away without 
being boiled. The fruit should therefore be washed and wiped 
before it is pared, and all defective parts removed. 

[The pear quince, though it becomes hard when preserved, 
and therefore is not as good for that purpose as the orange 
quince, is very rich, and makes fine marmalade. | 


Marmalade. | 

Wash and wipe the quinces, and take out any dark spots 
there may be on the skins. Cut them up without paring, cores 
and all; cover them with water in the preserving kettle, and 
boil them until they are soft enough to be rubbed through a 
coarse hair sieve. Then weigh equal quantities of pulp and 
refined sugar, and boil the mixture an hour, stirring it steadily. 

Made with nice brown sugar, it is very good, though not 
quite as handsome. When brown sugar is used it should be 
stirred an hour and a half. 

‘Put it into moulds or deep plates, and when it is cold put a 
paper over it, pasted at the edges, and brushed with white of 
ego. Marmalade can be kept for almost any length of time. 


Strawberries. 

Take large strawberries not extremely ripe; weigh equal 
quantities of: fruit and best sugar; lay the fruit in a dish, and 
sprinkle half the sugar over it; shake the dish a little, that the 
sugar may touch all the fruit. “Next day make a syrup of the 
remainder of the sugar and the juice which you can pour off 
from the fruit in the pan, and as it boils lay in the strawberries, 
and boil them gently twenty minutes or half an hour. 


Another. 

Weigh equal quantities of fruit and sugar, and put them to- 
gether over night. The next day boil the strawberries long 
enough to scald without shrinking them, — six or eight minutes 





PRESERVES — APPLE JAM, ETC. 109 


after they commence boiling. Then skim them out, and boil 
away the syrup half an hour; then pour it, hot, upon the straw- 
berries. 


Apple Jam (which will keep for years). 

Weigh equal quantities of brown sugar and good sour apples. 
Pare and core them, and chop them fine. Make a syrup of the 
sugar, and clarify it very thoroughly ; then add the apples, the 
grated peel of two or three lemons, and a few pieces of white 
ginger. Boil it till the apple looks clear and yellow. This re- 
sembles foreign sweetmeats. The ginger is essential to its 
peculiar excellence. 


Pine-Apple Jam. 

Grate sound but ripe pine-apples, and to a pound put three 
quarters of a pound of loaf sugar. Make a syrup and boil the 
grated pine-apple in it fifteen minutes. 


Grape Jam. 

Boil grapes very soft, and strain them through a sieve. 
Weigh the pulp thus obtained, and put a pound of crushed 
sugar to a pound of pulp. Boil it twenty minutes, stirring it 
often. The common wild grape is much the best for this use. 


Quince Jam. 

Weigh twelve ounces of brown sugar to one pound of quince. 
Boil the fruit in as little water as will do, until it is sufficiently 
soft to break easily ; then pour off all the water and mash it 
with a spoon untjl entirely broken; put in the sugar, and boil 
twenty minutes, stirring it very often. 


Another. 

Chop a pound of quince (not boiled) in a pound of best sugar. 
When chopped fine, boil it twenty minutes. If you have some 
of the water in which quinces have been boiled, put in a gill; 

10 


110 THE YOUNG, HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


if you have not this, use pure water. This is very good, but 
not as easily digested as the other. 


Raspberry Jam. 

Pick the fruit over very carefully, as it is more apt than any 
other to be infested with worms. Weigh equal quantities of 
fruit and sugar; put the fruit into the kettle, or preserving pan, | 
break it with a ladle, and stir continually. Let it boil quickly 
four or five minutes, then add the sugar, and simmer slowly a 
little while. The fruit, preserved in this way, retains its fresh 
taste much better than if the sugar is added at first. It is 
searcely inferior to raspberries gathered from the vines. Some 
persons prefer to add currants or currant juice. A quart of 
currant juice to four quarts of raspberries is a good proportion. 
Boil it up, and put the fruit into it. If you wish to add cur- 
rants, take fresh, ripe ones, a quart to three quarts of raspber- 
ries. 


Strawberry Jam. r 

Put three pounds of sugar to two quarts of strawberries. 
Sprinkle the sugar upon the fruit, and let it stand an hour or 
two; then boil it twenty minutes, and meantime bruise the fruit 


with a spoon or ladle. 


Apple Jelly. 

Take any juicy, sour apples ; wash and wipe them very clean, 
and cut them up without paring or taking out the cores. Put 
them into an earthen jar or baking pan with a very little water, 
and cover it with a paste of bread dough, rolled thin; (this 
keeps in the steam more effectually than a plate or lid). Put 
it in the oven after the bread is baked, and let it remain several 
hours. ‘Then pour the whole into a linen bag, suspended in 
such a manner that it can be left to drip for some time. Put a 
pound of sugar to a pint of syrup; add any thing which is pre- 
ferred, to flavor it. Boil ten minutes, 





JELLIES — CRAB-APPLE, BARBERRY, ETC. 111 


Another. 3 

Take good sour apples, wash and wipe them, cut out any 
_ black spots upon the skin, and cut them up without paring or 
coring. Much of the richness of the apple is in the skin and 
core. Boil them in water enough to cover them, and when they 
become very soft, put the whole into a coarse linen bag, and 
suspend it between two chairs, with a pan under it, and leave it 
until it ceases to drip. Then press it a very little. Allowa 
pound of fine sugar to a pint of apple-syrup. If you choose, 
add the juice of a lemon to every quart of syrup. Boil up the 
apple-syrup, and skim it; heat the sugar in a dish in the stove 
oven, and add it as the syrup boils up, after being skimmed. 
Boil it gently twenty minutes or half an hour. Put it up in 
cups, tumblers, or moulds. 


Crab-Apple Jelly. 


Boil the fruit in water enough to cover it, until it is perfectly 
soft; then proceed just as directed in the last receipt. 


Barberry Jelly. 

This is made by boiling the fruit until the water is very 
strongly flavored with it; then put a pound of best sugar to a 
pint of juice. It should boil a little longer than currant or 
quince jelly. 


Cranberry Jelly. 

Wash and pick over the fruit carefully, and boil it till very 
soft in water enough to cover it. Then strain it through a hair 
sieve, and weigh equal quantities of the pulp and fine sugar. 
Boil it gently, and with care that it does not burn, fifteen or 
twenty minutes. 


Currant Jelly. 

Pick over the fruit, but leave it on the stems. Put it into 
the preserving kettle, and break it with a ladle or spoon, and 
when it is hot, squeeze it in a coarse linen bag until you can 











112 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


press out no more juice. Then weigh a pound of sugar to a i 


pint of juice. Sift the sugar, and heat it as hot as possible 
without dissolving or burning ; boil the juice five minutes very 
fast, and while boiling add the hot sugar, stir it well, and when 
it has boiled again five minutes, set it off. The time must be 
strictly observed. Jelly to eat with meat does very well made 
with brown sugar, but must boil longer. 


Another (without boiling). 

Squeeze the currants in a coarse linen cloth, without taking 
off the stems. Weigh the juice, and allow a pound for a pound. 
The sugar should be sifted, and stirred in with the hand until it 
feels smooth and well dissolved. Put it into glasses, and set 
them in the sun near a window for two or three days. Then 
cover as directed for preserves and jellies. This will taste like 
newly made currant jelly at the end of a year, if kept in a cool 
and dry place. It will not keep well in a damp house. ! 


Quince Jelly. 

Take the water in which quinces have been boiled for pre- 
serving and for marmalade, and boil the clean parings until 
they are soft. (See directions in the receipt for preserving 
quinces without boiling the syrup). Then strain the water 
while very hot through a flannel bag, and allow a pound of best 
sugar for every pint. Put the sugar on a dish into the stove . 
oven to heat; boil up the quince water; if any scum rises, take 
it off, and then stir in the hot sugar, and boil it slowly, but 
steadily, twenty minutes, or half an hour. The time necessary 
will depend somewhat on the water being more or less: strongly 
flavored with the fruit. 


To Preserve Fruit in Water. 

Pick the fruit when ripe, but not mellow; put it into strong 
glass bottles, with wide mouths ; fill them with cold water, cork 
them and tie down the corks, or cover them with a piece of 
bladder wet in warm water, and tied over close; then set them 





BAKED AND STEWED FRUITS. 113 


into a flat-bottomed wash-boiler with a little hay under them, 
and cold water enough to come half-way up the sides of the 
bottles. Then heat the water gradually, and while that is doing 
melt some bees-wax and rosin, in equal quantities, and have it 
ready to use when the bottles are taken out of the boiler. 
This must be done as soon as the water in it begins to boil. 
Shut all the doors and windows before you do it, for a draught 
of air will break the bottles. Throw a cloth over them till 
they are a little cooled. 

As soon as you can handle them at all, dip the necks of the 
bottles into the melted rosin and wax, so as to cover the whole 
cork and bladder, and make it secure against the entrance of 
any air. If,in two or three months, a coat of mould should 
form.on the top of the water, that will do no harm; on the con- 
trary it will help to exclude the air, and for two months more 
will not hurt the fruit. 

When about to use the fruit, take off the mould carefully, so 
as not to break it, then pour out the fruit and the water into a 
‘stew-pan, add some sugar, and stew it as you would fresh fruit 
for immediate use, and it will have the same flavor. 

All sorts of plums, cherries, gooseberries, apricots, and even 
peaches, may be so preserved. 


BAKED AND STEWED FRUITS. 


THESE are economical, excellent, and healthy; and it is well 
worth while for every family possessing only a plot of ground 
large enough for two trees, to set out a pear and sweet apple 
tree. 


Steamed Sweet Apples. 

Wash and wipe a pailful of sweet apples; put them into a 
porcelain kettle, with cold water enough to come half-way to- 
ward the top, coyer them and boil them slowly as possible an 

10% 


114. “THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


hour. Then try them with a fork, and turn down the upper 
side of those which lie on the top. If they are considerably 
softened, scatter a coffee-cup of brown sugar over them, cover 
them close, and let them remain boiling another hour. Very 
large apples need half an hour more. 


Baked Sweet Apples. 

If they are of a good kind, they are very nice baked in an 
earthen dish, which is better than tin. If you cook them in a 
stove, there should be a little water in the pan, else the juice 
will burn and be lost. They are best done in a brick oven. 
Put them into a jar with no water or sugar, but cover them 
close, and bake five or six hours. A rich syrup will be found 
in the bottom of the jar, and the appearance and flavor of the 
apples will be very fine. 


Baked Sour Apples. : 

These are best baked in a stove. They require only an hour. 
There should be a little water in the dish. Just before they 
are done, sprinkle a little brown sugar upon them, dip the syrup 
over them, and cover them close till wanted for the table. They 
are good done in this way to eat at breakfast or tea ; and also at 
dinner, with any meat requiring apple sauce. Take out the 
_ cores before baking them if you choose. 


Baked Pears. 

The common early pears are very good put into a jar with- 
out paring, and with a teacup of molasses to every two quarts 
of pears. -But little water is necessary. Bake them five or six 
hours in a brick oven; two ina range or stove. If you wish 
them more delicate, pare them, and put a teacup of sugar in- 
stead of molasses. The later and larger fall pears are very 
nice baked in a dish; but most kinds of heavy winter pears can- 
not be baked so as to be tender. 


Boiled Cider Apple-Sauce. 
Take apples, sweet and sour together, that will not keep 








» 
MARMALADE AND CODDLED APPLES. 115 


long, and pare a large quantity. When finished, wash and put 
them into a large brass kettle, in which you have turned down 
an old dish or large plate, that will nearly cover the bottom; 
this is to prevent the apple from burning. After you have put 
in all the apples, pour in a quart of cider (boiled as directed in 
the receipt for boiled cider) to every pailful of apples. After it 
has boiled an hour or two, add molasses in the proportion of 
two quarts to every four pails of apples. If you have refuse 
quinees, a peck of them gives a fine flavor to a large kettle of 
apple-sauce. The best way to boil apple-sauce is to put the ket- 
tle over the fire at night, and let the apple become partly done 
before bed-time. When you leave it for the night, see that the 
fire lies in such a way, that all parts of the apple boil equally, 
and that no brands can fall.* Burn charcoal or peat if you 
have it, as either of these will make a steady fire, and may be 
left without danger from snapping. The chief things to be 
observed, are, that there is not too much fire, that it lies safely, 
and that it will afford a moderate heat several hours. In the 
morning the apple-sauce will be of a fine red color, and must 
then be put away in firkins or stone jars. Never use potter's 
ware for this purpose. 


Sweet Apple Marmalade. 

This is made by boiling sweet apples alone, in cider made of 
sweet apples, and boiled down so as.to-be very rich. The sauce 
is in this case strained warm through a very coarse sieve or 
riddle, and boiled again a little while; or it may be put into 
deep dishes and set into the oven after the bread is drawn. 
Coddled Apples. 

Take fair early apples, wipe them, lay them in a preserving 
kettle, and put to half a peck a coffee-cup of brown sugar, and 


* As the open fire-place is now seldom in use, these directions will not 
often be apropos. But where a range or coal stove is used, a large kettle 
of apple-sauce can, with care, be done well, on the top with the cover 
under it. 


* 


116 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


half a pint of water. Cover them and boil them gently, until 
they are tender and penetrated with the sugar. 

They may be done quite as well in a jar in the oven, but 
care must be taken that they are not cooked too much. Early 
apples will bake with a very moderate heat. 


Common Family Apple-Sauce. 

Let your stock of apples be picked over several times in the 
course of the winter, and all the defective ones taken out. Let 
the good parts of these be pared, and if not used for pies, be 
made into apple-sauce. Boil it in a preserving kettle. After 
it is tender, add a pint bowl of brown sugar, and boil it gently 
fifteen minutes longer. ‘Towards spring, when apples become 
tasteless, a teaspoonful of tartaric acid, dissolved in a little 
water, should be added to a gallon of apple. 


Boiled Pears. 

These are eaten with roast meat instead of apple or cranberry 
sauce. Choose fair, smooth ones; put them into cold water and 
boil them whole, without paring and without sugar. It will 
take an hour, or an hour and a half, according to the size of the 
fruit. 


To Stew Dried Apples or Peaches, 

Wash them in two or three waters, and put them to soak in 
rather more water than will cover them, as they absorb a great 
deal. After soaking two hours, put them into a preserving 
kettle in the same water, and with a lemon or orange cut up; 
boil them till very tender ; when they rise up in the kettle press 
them down with a skimmer or spoon, but do not stir them. 
When they are tender, add clean brown sugar, and boil fifteen 
or twenty minutes longer. 

Dried apples are rendered tasteless by being strained or 
stirred so as to break them up; and they are also injured by 
soaking over night. 

If they are to be used for pies, there should be more sugar 





DIRECTIONS RESPECTING MEAT. 117 


added than for sauce, and a small piece of butter stirred in 
while they are hot. Nutmeg and clove are good spices for 
dried apple-pies. 

Dried peaches are done in the same way, only the lemon and 
spice are omitted. 


HOW TO SELECT AND TAKE CARE OF 
BEEF, MUTTON, LAMB, VEAL, AND 
PORK. 


Ox beef is the best; next to this the flesh of an heifer; and 
both are in perfection during the first three month of the year. 
Choose that, the lean of which is red and of a fine grain, and 
the fat of which is white.* In cold weather, if you havea 
large family, it is good economy to buy a quarter. The hind 

quarter is considered best. Have the butcher cut it up. Pack 
~ the roasting pieces, which you do not want soon, in a barrel of 
snow, and set it where it will not melt. It is not necessary to 
freeze the meat first. The leg will furnish, besides a piece to 
cook alamode, two or three tosmoke. The thin pieces at the 
end of the ribs are good corned, and the flank also; or it may 
be used for mince pies. The shank, although it has but little 
meat, is very good for some purposes. It should be cut up into 
several pieces and boiled four or five hours, no matter how long. 
There is a great deal of marrow and fat in it which, when cold, 
should be taken off and clarified for various uses. ‘The meat is 
good used as is directed in the receipt for brawn, and the liquor 
makes excellent soup and gravies. 

The best roasting pieces of beef are the sirloin, the second 


* The flesh of diseased cattle is sometimes sold in city markets. There- 
fore never buy beef the fat of which is very yellow, nor mutton and lamb 
unless the fat is white. Yellow fat indicates that the meat is of an un- 
healthy kind. 


118 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


cut in the fore quarter, and the rump. If you buy a sirloin for 
a family of six or eight, get eight or ten pounds. Cut off the 
_ thin end in which there is no bone. It is very good corned, and 
not very good roasted. ‘The roasting piece will still be large 
enough for the family dinner, and the corned piece will do for 
another day, with a pudding or another small dish of meat. The 
back part of the rump is a convenient and economical piece, 
especially for a small family. It is a long and rather narrow 
piece, weighing about ten pounds, and contains less fat and bone 
than any other, equally good, in the ox. The thickest end 
affords nice steaks, and next to them is a goed reasting piece, 
and the thinnest end which contains the bone, is very good 
corned, or for a soup. The whole is an excellent piece for 
roasting, in case so large a one is needed. 

The spring is the best season for mutton. That which is not 
very large is to be preferred. It should be of a good red and 
white, and fine grained. There is a great difference between 
mutton and lamb killed from a pasture, and that which has been 
driven a distance to market. 

Lamb is best in July and August. 

Veal is best in the spring. It should look white and be fat. 
The breast is particularly nice stuffed; the loin should be 
roasted. ‘The leg is an economical piece, as you can take off 
cutlets from the large end, make broth of the shank, and stuff 
and roast the centre. 

Roasting pieces of all kinds of ribbed meat, except beef, 
snould be jointed by the butcher, else the carving will be ex- 
tremely difficult. 

Always provide a sharp knife for carving. The juices of 
meat are extracted by its being haggled. An invalid, speaking 
of the kindness of a neighbor in sending him some slices of 
corned beef, said, “They were cut with a sharp knife.” For 
the sake of economy, if for no other reason, carve smoothly, and 
only as much as is wanted at first. It is easy to cut more for 
replenishing plates; and meat is far better not to lie sliced in 
the dish. If no more is cut than is used, a handsome piece 





DIRECTIONS RESPECTING MEAT. 119 


may often be reserved for the next day; whereas if all is cut 
up it cannot be so good, and some of it will certainly be wasted. 

Ham and tongue should be sliced very thin. 

Pork, to be the best, should not be more than a year old. 
The chine is the best roasting piece; the spare-ribs are very 
sweet food, but too rich to be healthy. The shoulder is good 
roasted, stuffed with bread and sage. If too large, half of it 
can be laid a week or two in brine, and will be good boiled, to 
eat cold. It is well for a small family,in November to buy half 
of a spring pig; this will furnish several nice pieces to roast, 
strips for salting, a ham and shoulder for smoking, and leaf 
enough for a pot or two of lard, besides remnants for sausage 
meat. 

In winter, all meat may be kept a long time; and, with the 
exception of pork, is much better for it; therefore it is easier to 
furnish a table without waste in winter than in summer. Meat 
will keep in an ice-house or a good refrigerator several days in 
_ hot weather; if you have neither, take your meat the moment 
it is brought in, wipe it dry if at all damp, and hang it in the 
cellar, sprinkling first a little pepper and salt over it, especially 
over the parts which flies are most apt to visit. In mutton and 
lamb, these are the tenderloin and the large end of the leg. The 
pepper and salt will also tend to preserve the meat from taint. 

If you wish to keep it longer than two days, wrap it in a 
piece of cloth (no matter if it is very thin), and lay it in a 
charcoal bin, and throw a shovel of coal over it. A leg of mut- 
ton will keep several days wrapped in a cloth which has been 
dipped in vinegar, laid upon the ground of a dry cellar. 

Meat that is to be salted for immediate use, should, if the 
weather is cool, be hung up a day or two first.* Where a large 
quantity of beef is to be salted, a different method is pursued. 
In winter, unless you wish to keep meat several weeks, place it 
where it will be cold without freezing. Mutton never looks as 
nice after being frozen hard; it has a dark, uninviting appear- 








* See directions for salting meat, page 162. 


120 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


ance. ‘To thaw frozen meat, bring it. over night into a warm 
room. If this has been forgotten, lay it, early in the morning, 
into cold water. If meat is put to roast, boil, or broil, before 
being entirely thawed, it will be tough. It is best to preserve 
fowls without freezing. ‘They will keep very well packed in 
snow; the liver, &c., being taken out and laid by themselves in 
the snow, and the body filled with it. , 

Meat that has been kept perfectly clean, or a beef steak just 
cut off, should not be washed ; but, generally, it is necessary to 
wash a roasting piece. Pork having the rind on, needs great 
care in washing and scraping, to make it fit to cook. 

Trim off the superfluous fat from beef, mutton, and fresh pork 
before cooking it. 

Tough steak is made more tender by being pounded with a 
rolling-pin ; but some of the juice of the meat is lost by the 
operation. 


STOCK FOR GRAVIES AND SOUPS. 


Wasu a leg or shin of beef very clean, crack the bone in two 
or three places, put with it any trimmings you may have of 
meat or fowls, such as gizzards, necks, &c.; cover them with cold 
water in a stew-pan that shuts close. The moment it begins to 
simmer, skim it carefully till it boils up. Then add half a pint 
of cold water, which will make the remaining scum rise, and 
skim it again and again, till no more appears, and the broth 
looks perfectly clear. ‘Then put in a moderate sized carrot, 
cut up small, two turnips, a head of celery, and one large or 
two small onions. Stir it several times that it may not burn, or 
stick at the bottom. Herbs and spices are not to be added 
until the broth is used for gravies for particular dishes. After 
these vegetables are added, set the pan where the broth will 
boil very slowly for four or five hours. Then strain it through 
a sieve into a stone pan or jar, and when cold, cover it, and set 








ON ROASTING MEAT. 121 


it in an ice-house or some other very cool place. The meat 
thus stewed may be used as directed for minced meat in the 
chapter on Common Dishes, &c., p. 187. 


ON ROASTING MEAT. 


Ir meat is to be roasted before the fire, allow a quarter of an 
hour for the cooking of every pound in warm weather, and in 
winter twenty minutes. Flour it well, and put two or three 
gills of water in the roaster. Put the bony side to the fire first, 
and do not place it very near. If meat is scorched in the 
beginning, it cannot be roasted through afterwards, without 
burning. ‘Turn it often, and when all parts are slightly cooked, 
place it nearer the fire. When about half done, flour it again. 
Baste it very often. Salt it half an hour before serving it. 

It is not well to salt meat at first, as salt extracts the juices. 
In roasting all meats, the art depends chiefly on flouring 
thoroughly, basting frequently, and turning so often as not to 
allow any part to burn. 

To roast in a cooking stove, it is necessay to attend carefully 
to the fire, lest the meat should burn. Lay it into the pan with 
three or four gills of water in it. ‘Turn the pan around often, 
that all the parts may roast equally. When it is about half done, 
flour it again, turn it over that the lower side may become 
brown. If the water wastes so that the pan becomes nearly 
dry, add a little hot water. 

Among the /ittle things which are worthy the attention of a 
housekeeper, is that of having a dinner served fot. It is often 
the case, that a well-cooked dinner loses much of its excellence, 
by a want of care in this particular. All the meat and veg- 
etable dishes should be heated, and in winter the plates should 
also be warmed. 

11 


My 


122 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


ON BOILING MEAT. 


Iv is a common impression that boiled meat requires very 
little attention ; and probably one reason why many persons dis- 
like it, may be, that it is seldom so carefully cooked as roast 
meat. . 

If proper attention can be secured, meat should not be boiled 
in acloth. But if the pot is not likely to be thoroughly skim- 
med, it is best to use one. All kinds of meat are best put over 
the fire in cold water, in the proportion of a quart to every 
pound of meat. The fibres are thus gradually dilated, and the 
meat is more tender. The fire should be moderate, and the 
water should heat gradually. If it boils in thirty or forty min- 
utes it is soon enough. 

All kinds of meat, poultry, and fish should boil very slowly. 
Fast boiling makes meat tough and hard. Allow twenty min- 
utes to a pound of fresh meat; but a little more time is required 
to cook a hind than a fore quarter. Salt meat should boil 
longer than fresh ; allow forty minutes for every pound. 

A tongue that has been cured with saltpetre and smoked, 
- should soak over night, and be boiled at least four hours; it is 
not easy to boil it too much, and nothing is more disagreeable 
or indigestible than a tongue not well boiled. A ham, if very 
salt, should also be soaked over night, and should be boiled from 
three to’five hours, according to the size, unless you prefer to 
cook it the last half of the time in the oven, as is directed in the 
receipt for cooking a ham or shoulder. This is the better way. 
Calf’s head should lie in a great deal of water several hours ; 
and if large, will require two hours and a half to boil. 

The two things mest important in boiling meat, are, to boil 
it gently ; and to skim it until no more froth rises. To do this, 
have a skimmer or a spoon and dish, and the moment the froth 
begins to rise, which will be when the water becomes very hot, 





DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING GRAVIES. 123 


skim it off. Put in a pint of cold water, which will cause it to 
rise more freely, and continue to skim it every minute or two, 
till all is taken of£* If the water boils fast before you begin to 
take off the froth, it will all return into the water, and will 
adhere to the meat, and make it look badly. Some nice house- 
keepers throw a handful of flour into the kettle to prevent scum 
from adhering to meat. Calf’s head, and veal need more skim- 
ming than any other meat; but all kinds need to be skimmed 
several times. If the water beils away so that the meat is not 
covered, add more, as the part which lies above the water will 
have a dark appearance. 


DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING GRAVIES. 


oe : * , 
Many young housekeepers who succeed well in most kinds 
of cooking, are a long time in finding out how to make good 
gravy. To haye it free from fat is the most important thing. 
For a small family it is not necessary to prepare stock. The 
water in which fresh meat, a tongue, or piece of beef slightly 
salted, has been boiled, should be saved for this purpose, and 
for use in various economical dishes. In cold weather it will 
keep a good while, and in warm weather, several days in a 
refrigerator. 

The way to use meat liquor, or the stock for which a receipt 
is given, is this: In case you are roasting beef, mutton, lamb, or 
pork, pour off entirely, into a dish, half an hour before the din- 
ner hour, all the coritents of the dripping pan or roaster, and 
set it away in a cold place; then put into the roaster two or 
three gills of the meat liquor or stock ; if you have cold gravy, 
or drippings of a previous day, remove all the fat from the top, 
and put the liquid that remains eat the bottom into the pan. 


* Froth from fat meat should be put into the soap-grease. 


124 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Wet some browned flour smooth, and when you take up the 
meat, set the pan on the top of the stove. The gravy will im- 
- mediately boil, and the wet flour must then be stirred in. It will 
boil away fast, therefore see that it does not stand too long. 

For veal and venison, gravy is made differently because there 
is but little fat on these meats, and what there is, is not gross. 
Put into the roaster, or dripping pan, some of the meat liquor 
or stock, when you first put the meat to roast, and if it is done 
in a stove or range, add a, little more in case it boils away. 
When it is done, set the dripping pan on the stove, and having 
stirred in the wet flour, add a piece of butter half the size of an 
egg, and stir until it is all melted, else it will make the gravy 
oily. 

Gravy for poultry is made by boiling the giblets (necks, giz- 
zards, hearts, and livers) by themselves in five or six gills of 
water. Skim them carefully, as a great deal of scum will rise. 
After an hour, or hour and a half, take them out, and pour the 
water into the dripping-pan. Mash, or chop the liver fine, and 
when you make the gravy, add this, and a bit of butter, some 
pepper, the wet flour, and, if you choose, a little sweet mar- 
joram. 

The fat that roasts out of a turkey should be dipped off with 
a spoon before these ingredients are added. It is too gross to 
be palatable or healthy. 

In making gravy for a goose, pour off all the drippings as in > 
roasting beef or pork, and put in some of the stock or meat 
liquor. 

It is best to brown a quart of flour at once. Put it into 
a spider, and set it in the stove oven, or on the top ; stir it often 
lest it should burn. When it is a light brown, put it into a jar 
or wide-mouthed bottle. 


Drawn Butter. 

Take a small cupful of butter, and rub into it half a table- 
spoonful of flour, then pour upon it about a gill of boiling 
water, stirring it fast. Set it upon the coals, and let it boil up 





STUFFING OF VARIOUS KINDS. 125 


once. If it is suffered to remain boiling it will become oily. 
Some persons prefer to use boiling milk instead of water. Pars- 
ley is an improvement. Tie a few sprigs together with a thread 
and throw them for a minute into boiling water, then cut them 
fine, and add them to the butter. 


STUFFING OR DRESSING OF VARIOUS 
KINDS. 


For a fillet of veal, a turkey, chickens, partridges, and 
pigeons, take light bread enough to make three gills of fine 
crumbs. Cut off the crust and lay by itself in just enough boil- 
ing water to soften it. Rub the soft part into fine crumbs be- 
tween your hands; put. in a teaspoonful of salt, one or two of 
powdered sweet marjoram, a little pepper, and a-piece of butter 
half as large as an egg; add the softened crusts, and mix the 
whole together very thoroughly. If it is not moist enough, add 
a spoonful or two of milk. Taste it, and if there is not season- 
ing enough, add more. 

To put it into the fowl neatly, and without waste. use a tea- 
spoon. 

If stuffing is made of pounded crackers, the seasoning is the 
same, but crackers swell so much that two gills will be plenty 
for a turkey. Milk will be necessary to mix it, and also a 
beaten egg to make it cohere. Some people prefer dressing 
made of crackers, but it is hard and not as healthy as that which 
is made of good bread, without an egg. 

Stuffing for ducks is usually made with a little finely chop- 
ped onion in it. For a goose, sage should be used instead of 
sweet-marjoram. 

For a pig, or a shoulder of fresh pork, make a dressing with- 
out butter, moistened with milk, and seasoned with pepper, 

Oa 


»~ 
126 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


salt, and a good deal of powdered sage. This tends to prevent 
the deleterious effects of such rich meat upon the stomach. 

For a dressing for alamode beef, and stewed lamb, salt pork, 
chopped fine, is substituted for butter, and for a fillet of veal it 
is very well to make it in the same way. 


VEGETABLES AND SAUCES APPROPRIATE 
TO DIFFERENT MEATS. 


PoTaTOES are good with all meats. With fowls they are 
nicest mashed. Sweet potatoes are most appropriate with roast 
meat, as also are onions, winter squash, cucumbers, and aspara- 
gus. 

Carrots, parsnips, turnips, greens, and cabbage are eaten with 
boiled meat; and corn, beets, peas, and beans are appropriate 
to either boiled or roasted meat. Mashed turnip is good with 
roasted pork, and with boiled meats. 

Tomatoes are good with every kind of meat, but specially so 
with roasts. Apple-sauce with roast pork; cranberry-sauce 
with beef, fowls, veal, and ham. Currant jelly is most appro- 
priate with roast mutton. Pickles are good with all roast 
meats, and capers or nasturtiums with boiled lamb or mutton. 
Horseradish and lemons are excellent with veal. 


DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING MEATS. . 


To Roast Beef. 
SEE the directions for roasting meat. 


Beef Steak. 
The best slices are cut from the rump, or through the sirloin. 





4 


BEEF STEAK —TOMATO STEAK. 127 


The round is seldom tender enough, and is very good cooked in 
other ways. Do not cut your slices very thick. Have the grid- 
iron perfectly clean. Set it over moderately hot coals at first, 
and turn the steaks in less than a minute. ‘Turn them repeat- 
edly. If the fat makes a blaze under the gridiron, put it out 
by sprinkling fine salt on it. Steaks will broil in about seven 
minutes. Have ready a hot dish, and sprinkle each piece with 
salt, and a little pepper; lay on small pieces of butter, and 
cover close. This is a much better way than to melt the butter 
in the dish before taking up the meat. Some persons keep a 
small pair of tongs on purpose to turn beef-steaks, as using a 
fork wastes the juice. Steaks should be served hot as possible. 


Stuffed Beef Steak. 

Take a thick and tender slice of rump, of about two pounds 
weight ; make two gills of stuffing, of crumbs of bread, pepper, 
salt, and powdered clove, or sweet marjoram, as you choose ; 
roll the dressing up in the steak, wind a piece of twine around 
it, taking care to secure the ends. Have ready a kettle or deep 
stew-pan, with a slice or two of pork fried crisp. Take out the 


‘pork and lay in the steak, and turn it on every side, until it is 


brown. ‘Then put in two gills of the stock, or of water in 
which meat has been-boiled; sprinkle in a little salt, cover 
close, and stew slowly an hour and a half. Add more water 
after a while, if it becomes too dry. Some persons like the 
addition of chopped onion. There should, howeyer, be very 
little; half of a small one is enough. When nearly done, add 
half a gill of catsup. When you take up the meat, unwind the 


string carefully, so as not to unroll it. Lay it in a fricassee dish, 


thicken the gravy, if not thick enough already, and pour it over 
the meat. Cut the meat in slices through the roll. 


Tomato Steak. 

Take two pounds of beef; cut it in small strips, and put it 
into the pot with seven medium-sized tomatoes. Stew it very 
slowly. Add a dessert spoonful of sugar, salt, a little clove, and, 


oa 
128 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


just before you take it up, a dessert spoonful of butter. If you 
have tomato catsup, add a little, and if you like chopped onion, 
that also. Very tender beef is, of course, to be preferred ; but 
that which is tough becomes more palatable in this than in al- 
most any other way. This dish is quite as good, if not better, 
heated over the next day. 


Alamode Beef (in a plain way). 

Take a thick piece of flank, or, if most convenient, the thick- 
est part of the round, weighing six or eight pounds, for a small 
family of four or five persons. Cut off the strips of coarse fat 
upon the edge, make incisions in all parts, and fill them with a 
stuffing made of bread, salt pork chopped, pepper, and sweet 
marjoram. Push whole cloves here and there into the meat; 
roll it up, fasten it with skewers, and wind a strong twine*or . 
tape about it. Have ready a pot in which you have fried to a 
crisp three or four slices of salt pork; take out the pork, lay in 
the beef, and brown every side. When well browned, add 
hardly water enough to cover it, chop a large onion fine, add 
eighteen or twenty cloves, and boil it gently, but steadily, three 
or four hours, according to the size. The water should boil 
away so as to make a rich gravy, but be careful it does not 
burn. When you take up the beef, add browned flour to the 
gravy, if it needs to be thickened. 


Another (more rich). 

Take seven or eight pounds of the upper part of the round, 
cut off the coarse fat upon the side, and make deep incisions in 
every part. ‘To a pint bowl of bread crumbs, put pepper, pow- 
dered clove, a small nutmeg, a teaspoonful of salt, some whole 
allspice, a large spoonful of butter, and, if you choose, a very 
little chopped salt pork, and two beaten eggs. Mix these ingre- 
dients well together, and fill the incisions, but reserve a part of . 
the stuffing. Put in two or three skewers horizontally, near. 
the edges, and tie twine across to keep in the stuffing. Push 
whole cloves into the meat here and there. Lay it, when thus 





| 
BRISKET OF BEEF —STEWED TONGUE. 129 


prepared, into a bake-pan or stew-pan, having a lid which may 
be heated ; put in water enough just to cover it, and set it where 
it will simmer, but not quite boil. Have the lid heated, and a 
few embers laid over it. After two hours, pour upon the top 
the stuffing which you reserved, heat the lid again, and cover 
the meat. Let it stew two hours more. If the gravy is too 
thin, add browned flour and boil it up again. Some persons 
use red wine, but it is very good without. Half the quantity of 
meat and stuffing for a small family. 


Stewed Brisket of Beef 

Put three or four pounds of brisket into a kettle, and cover 
it with water. Take off the scum as it rises. Let it boil stead- 
ily two hours. Then take it from the pot and brown it with 
butter in a spider. When it is browned on every side, return it 
to the kettle, and stew it gently five hours more. Add more 
water if it boils away. Put in a carrot and a turnip or two, cut 
small, an onion also; afew cloves, and salt and pepper as you 
think necessary. Half an hour before dinner add tomato or 
mushroom catsup. To serve it, lay the beef upon a dish, and 
strew capers over it. The water in which it was stewed is a 
nice soup. 


Stewed Tongue. 

Boil a fresh tongue three hours, and if the skin does not 
easily come off, boil it longer. Remove the skin; strain the 
water in which it was boiled. Wash the pot, and return the 
tongue to it, with enough of the strained liquor to cover it. Put 
in it a carrot, a turnip, and an onion, cut fine, and a table-spoon- 
ful of powdered clove and also of ground pepper, tied up in 
muslin bags. Boil the tongue gently two hours and a half. 
About fifteen minutes before it is taken up, toast two slices of 
bread without the crust, cut it up in small bits, and put it into 
the pot. When you dish it up, put about a pint of the liquor 
and vegetables round the tongue in a fricassee dish. 


a 
130 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


To Boil Corned Beef. | 

Wash it thoroughly, and put it into a pot that will hold 
plenty of water. The water should be cold; the same care is 
necessary in skimming it as for fresh meat. It is not too much 
to allow forty minutes for every pound, after it has begun to 
boil. The goodness of corned beef depends much on its being 
boiled gently and long. If it is to be eaten cold, lay it into a 
coarse earthen dish or pan, and over it a piece of board the 
size of the meat. Upon this put a clean stone or some other 
heavy weight. Salt meat is very much improved by being 
pressed. 


To Roast Mutton. 

Any part may be roasted, but the leg is the best. Allow 
fifteen minutes for a pound, and do according to the directions 
for roasting meat. 


To Boil a Leg of Mutton or Lamb. 

Cut off the shank bone. Have water enough to cover the 
meat. If the pot is well skimmed, the water will make excel- 
lent broth for another day. 

A leg of lamb is a very nice dish if boiled well. It requires 
a little more time in proportion to the size than mutton, as 
mutton is good done rare, while lamb is neither good or healthy, 
unless well done. 

Most people like capers, and drawn butter with mutton and 
lamb, and cut parsley added is an improvement. 


Mutton or Lamb Steaks. 

Have the leg cut into steaks at the market, or by the butcher. 
If this has not been done, you can do it yourself with a sharp 
knife. Cut through the largest part first; have the slices about 
the thickness of your finger; separate them from the bone 
neatly. Broil exactly like beef steak. The bone and frag- 
ments which are left will make a good broth. 


ROAST LAMB — FILLET OF VEAL. 131 


Roast Lamb. 

If it is a hind quarter, and very fat, take off the thickest from 
the kidneys; place it on the spit, or in the dripping-pan as it 
should lie on the dish, slightly drawn up. Do exactly as in 
roasting beef. An hour and a half will suffice to roast a quarter 
weighing five or six pounds. 

‘The breast of lamb is very sweet and requires about as much 
roasiing as the hind quarter. 


Stewed or Alamode Lamb. 

Pick off all the fat from a nice leg of lamb, or small leg of 
mutton. Cut off the shank, make deep incisions in various 
parts of the inside; fill them with stuffing made of crumbs of 
bread, salt pork, sweet marjoram, and pepper; stuff it very full. 
Fry two or three slices of pork crisp in the pot, then take them 
out, and lay in the leg; brown it on every side, then put hardly 
water enough into the pot to cover it. Throw in a dozen or 
two of cloves, half an onion sliced or chopped very fine, and a 
little salt. A half a teacup of catsup or a few tomatoes added 
half an hour before it is served, improve it very much. Let. it 
simmer, steadily, three hours. 

When you take up the leg, thicken the gravy, if it is not 
thick enough. Put a few spoonfuls over the meat, and the rest 
in a gravy tureen. 


To Roast a Fillet of Veal. 

Veal requires more time than any other meat except pork. 
It is scarcely ever done too much. A leg weighing eight or 
nine pounds should roast three hours. If your family is large, 
so that most of it will be eaten the first day, it is best to take 
out the bone, which is easily done with a sharp knife, the 
knuckle having been cut off by the butcher. Put this bone 
aside with the knuckle for a broth. If you design to use what 
is left cold for dinner the next day, let the bone remain in, as 
it keeps the leg in better shape. Prepare a stuffing of bread, 
pepper, salt pork, and sweet marjoram ; make deep incisions in 


132 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


the meat and fill them with it. Fasten the fold of fat which is 
usually upon the fillet over the stuffed incisions with a skewer. 
Roast it slowly at first. Put into the dripping-pan some hot 
water with a little salt in it, or some of the stock. When the 
meat has roasted about an hour, flour it thickly, and skewer 
upon it four or five slices of salt pork. After the flour has 
become brown, baste the veal every fifteen minutes. If it is 
very good veal, the pork will flavor it without the addition of 
any butter ; but if not, or if you wish it to be particularly nice, 
add a small piece of butter to the gravy in the roaster, before 
you begin to baste the meat. In cutting the incisions, endeavor 
to make them wider inside than at the surface, so that the 
stuffing may not fall out. See the directions (page 123) for mak- 
ing the gravy. 


A Loin of Veal. 

A breast or a loin of veal should be basted a great many 
times and roasted thoroughly. It is an improvement to put on 
slices of pork as in cooking the leg. Allow two hours for roast- 
ing ; more, if it is large. 


Veal Pot Pie. 

Take the neck, the shank, and almost any pieces you have. 
Boil them long enough to skim off all the froth.” Make a paste 
and roll it about half an inch thick. Butter the pot and lay in 
the crust, cutting out a piece on each side of the circle in such 
a way as to prevent its having thick folds. Put in a layer of 
meat, then flour, salt and pepper it, and add a little butter or a 
slice or two of salt pork, as you choose. Do this until you have 
laid in all your meat; pour in enough of the water in which 
the veal was boiled to half fill the kettle, then lay on the top- 
crust and make an incision in it to allow the escape of the 
steam. Watch that it does not burn, and pour in more of the 
water through the hole in the crust if necessary. Boil an hour 
and a half. The objection to this dish is, that boiled crust is 
apt to be heavy, and therefore unhealthy ; but if it is made after 





BAKED VEAL PIE— VEAL CUTLETS. 133 


the receipt for cream tartar biscuit, or of potato crust, it will be 
light. 


Baked Veal Pie. 

This is made in the same way as the boiled. The dish should 
be very deep, and when you are ready to lay on the upper 
crust, wet the edge of the under crust all around and flour it; 
then lay on the upper crust and press your hand upon the edge, 
so that the flour and water will make it adhere, and thus pre- 
vent the gravy from escaping. Prick the top several times 
with a large fork. If you have pieces of crust left, cut them 
into leaves and ornament the pie. Bake it an hour and a 
half. 


Stewed Breast of Veal. 

Cut it into handsome pieces and fry it brown, either in drip- 
pings, or the fat fried out of salt pork. Brown all parts 
thoroughly; then pour in hot water enough barely to cover it. 
Add lemon peel cut fine and sweet marjoram. Cover it close 
as possible, and stew it gently two hours; then pour off the 
liquor into a sauce-pan, and thicken it with browned flour. 
Take up the veal into a hot fricassee dish, and pour the gravy 
over it. 

Always allow half an hour for frying veal brown. No other 
meat requires as much time. 


Veal Cutlets. 

Take slices from the broad end of the leg. Fry three or four 
slices of salt pork crisp, then take them out, lay in the veal half 
an hour at least before dinner time. When it has become 
brown, take it out and dip the slices, one by one, into a plate of 
fine bread crumbs, then fry them a few minutes longer. When 
done through, take them up on a hot dish, pour hot water into 
the spider or frying pan, and instantly when it boils up dredge 
in a little flour; pour it over the meat. Lay the slices of pork 
around the edge of the dish. 

12 


134 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


The best veal is to be had at the time when winter vegetables 
are not very good, and fresh ones have not come into market. 
Horseradish, spring cranberries, or fresh lemons are therefore 
the more acceptable with it. 


Broiled Veal. 

It must not be done too fast, and will take longer than beef. 
It is a great improvement to broil pork and lay between the 
slices of veal. Lay them upon the meat while it is broiling, 
and if they are not brown when the veal is done, put them a 
few minutes longer on the gridiron. If pork is not used, season. 
with butter. In either case, add pepper and salt. 


Calf’s Head. 

Let the head, feet, liver and lights, soak some hours in a 
plenty of cold water. Take out the brains. Boil the head, &c., 
till very tender, which will require from two hours to two and a 
half. Throw some salt into the water, and skim it thoroughly. 
Boil the brains ten or fifteen minutes, tied up in a piece of 
muslin; chop them, and put them with melted butter, and parsley 
cut fine. If you choose, boil an egg hard, cut it up and add it. 
Cold calf’s head is good. It is also good hashed. To make it 
into soup the second day, see the receipt under the head of 
Soups. 


Melton Veal, or Veal Cake. 

Cut three or four pounds of raw veal, and half as much ham, 
into small pieces. If you have the remains of cooked veal or 
ham, add them. Boil six eggs hard, cut them in slices, and lay 
some of them in the bottom of a deep brown pan; shake in a 
little minced parsley; lay in some of the pieces of veal and 
ham, then add more egg, parsley, pepper, and salt; then more 
meat, and again parsley, pepper, and salt, till all the meat is laid 
in. Lastly add water enough just to cover it, and lay on about 
an ounce of butter shaved thin; tie over it a double paper, bake 
it an hour, then remove the paper, press it down with a spoon, 








VENISON — ROAST PIG. 135 


and lay a small plate with a weight upon it, and let it remain 
another hour in the oven. When cold, it will cut in slices. 


‘Venison. 


Roast a haunch like a loin or leg of veal, and about as Jong. 
Flour it thickly. Put some of the stock for gravies, or water 
in which beef has been boiled, into the pan, and baste it often. 
Half an hour before serving it add a table-spoonful of butter 
to the gravy, and baste it again and again. 

If you use blazes at the table, roast it but an hour. Most per- 
sons like venison cooked simply, without spices. But if you 
choose to have a dressing, make it as for veal, with the addition 
of powdered clove. 

Venison steaks are cooked like beef steaks. 


To Roast a Pig. ; 

It should not be more than a month old. It is better a little 
less, and it should be killed on the morning of the day it is to 
be cooked. Sprinkle fine salt over it an hour before it is put 
to the fire. Cut off the feet at the first joint. Make stuffing 
enough to fill it very full, of bread crumbs moistened with a 
little milk, a small piece of butter, sweet marjoram, sage, pep- 
per, and salt. When placed on the spit, confine the legs in such 
a manner as to give it a good shape. Rub it all over with but- 
ter or sweet oil, to keep it from blistering. Flour it at first 
a little. As soon as it begins to brown, dredge on a very 
thick covering of flour. Turn the spit every three or four min- 
utes. If the flour falls off, instantly renew it. When it has all 
become of a dark brown cvlor, scrape it off into a plate and set 
it aside. Put a piece of butter into the gravy in the roaster, 
and baste the pig very often, till it is done, which it is when the 
eyes fall out. The feet and liver should be boiled an hour or 
two, and the gravy from the roaster be poured into the water 
in which they were boiled. The liver should be cut cr mashed 
fine, and the feet cut open and returned to the sauce-pan, the 
brains taken out and added, and the gravy thickened with the 


136 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


browned flour reserved in the plate. A pig of a month old will 
roast in two hours and a half. 


A Shoulder of Pork. 

One weighing ten pounds will require full three hours and a 
half to roast it. For a small family divide it, and roast one 
half and corn the other. ‘With a sharp knife score the skin in 
diamonds, or in strips about an inch wide. Make a dressing, as 
directed under the head of Stuffing of Various Kinds. Put 
this into deep incisions made in the thick part of the meat. 
Rub a little fine powdered sage into the skin where it is scored; 
and then rub the whole surface with sweet oil, or drippings, to 
prevent its blistering. Observe the directions respecting the 
basting and frequent turning of meat. Pork burns very easily, 
and both the taste and appearance are much injured by its being 
burnt. 


Spare-rib or Chine. | 

A spare-rib requires an hour and a half or two hours, accord- 
ing to the thickness. A very thin one will roast in an hour 
and a half. Flour it well, and take care it does not burn. 
Baste it often. The chine requires a longer time, being a 
thicker piece. It is more healthy, because less fat than the 
spare-rib, and having more meat in proportion to the bone, is a 
more economical piece. Before roasting either, trim off neatly, 
with a sharp knife, all the fat which can be removed without 


disfiguring the piece, and set it aside to be tried and used as 
lard. | 


Pork Steaks. 

Cut slices from the loin or neck. 

To fry pork steaks requires twenty-five or thirty minutes. 
Turn them often. If they are quite fat, pour off all that fries 
out when they are half done, and reserve it for some other use. 
Then dip the steaks in crumbs of bread with a little powdered 
sage, and lay them back into the frying-pan. When done 





SAUSAGES —HAM OR SHOULDER. 137 


through, take them up, dredge a little browned flour into the 
gravy, put in salt, pour in a gill of boiling water, and turn it 
instantly, as it boils up, upon the dish of steaks. 


To Fry Sausages, 

Sausages may be kept for some time, but fresh ones are con- 
sidered best. Separate them, prick them to prevent their burst- 
ing, and lay them in a spider. If they are properly made, 
they will need no fat to fry them. Cook them slowly, at first, 
but brown every side of them before taking them up. They 
cook very well laid in a pan and set in a cooking-stove, but 
must be turned often, and care taken that they do not burn. 
Some persons fry bread in the fat which remains, in this way. 
Dip slices of bread, or crusts which have been cut and become 
dry, in salt and water, and lay them in the spider as soon as 
you take out the sausages. When brown one side, turn them. 
Serve them with the sausages. It takey twenty minutes to fry 
sausages in a spider, and half an hour to cook them in a stove. 
For those persons whose health is injured by eating them, it is 
best to lay them into a little water, and cook them thus, as long 
as they are usually fried, then pour off the water and brown 
them. ‘This renders them comparatively harmless. ‘The bread, 
fried as directed, does not absorb much fat. 


To Boil a Ham or Shoulder. 

A ham, weighing twelve pounds, should be cooked four or five 
hours. Boil it slowly in a plenty of water half the time it 
should be cooked ; then take off the skin and any excrescences 
that were not removed by washing. Cover the fat side with 
pounded cracker, and lay it in a dripping pan, or iron basin, 
and put itinto the stove. Let it remain the other half of the time. 

The baking roasts out a great quantity of fat, and leaves the 
meat much more delicate. In warm weather it will keep in a 
dry, cool place, a long time. If after ten days you perceive a 
tendency to mould, set it a little while into the oven again. It 
is often a more agreeable dinner in hot weather than fresh 
meat. 


138 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


If a ham is very salt, it should lie in water over night. In 
baking it, care should be taken that it is not done too much, and 
thus made hard. If the oven is a brick one and holds the heat 
a long time, it will.do to put it in when the bread is taken out. 

The fat which bakes out is good to fry eggs or potatoes, and 
if not strong, will do to use on the griddle. 


To Fry Ham. 

Cut thin slices, and take off the rind; if very salt, pour hot 
water upon them, but do not suffer them to lie long in it, as the 
juices of the meat will be lost. Wipe them in a cloth; have the 
spider ready hot, lay in the pieces and turn them in a minute 
or two. They will cook in a very short time. The secret of 
having good fried ham is in cooking it quick, and not too much. 
The practice of cutting thick slices, laying them into a cold 
spider and frying a long time, makes ham black and hard. It 
needs nothing added, but to be laid upon a hot covered dish. 


To Broil Ham. 

Cut the slices very thin, for which you must have a sharp 
knife; pare off the rind; lay them on the gridiron over hot 
coals. Do not leave them a moment, as they must be almost 
immediately turned, and will need attention to keep the edges 
from burning. Two minutes will broil them. 


To Fry Salt Pork. 

Cut slices and lay them in cold water in the spider; boil 
them up two or three minutes, then pour off the water and set 
the spider again on the coals and brown the slices on each side. 
Fried pork, with baked potatoes, and baked or fried sour 
apples, makes a very good dinner. It is an improvement to dip 
the pork, after being par-boiled, into Indian meal, before fry- 
ing it. 


Frizzled Smoked Beef. 
Shaye thin slices, and put them in a teacupful of milk into a 





LAYING MEAT, ETC., ON THE DISH. 139 


small kettle or sauce-pan ; boil it a few minutes, and then add a 
small bit of butter and an egg beaten with a teaspoonful of flour, 
and stir well. Put a little more milk to it if needed. 

[Smoked beef is good in poached eggs, but in that case the 
beef should be boiled a few minutes in the milk before the eggs 
are added. ‘The last remnants of a ham may be scraped from 
the bone, and put into poached eggs, but will not need the boil- 
ing which is necessary in the case of the smoked beef. ] 


To Shave Smoked Beef. 

Use a very thin-bladed, sharp knife, and shave as thin as the 
thinnest paper. Do not attempt to cut it across the whole 
piece; no matter how small the shavings are, if they are but 
thin. 


TO LAY MEAT AND POULTRY ON THE 
DISH FOR THE TABLE. 


Lay a sirloin of beef with the tenderloin down, and the thick 
end towards the left hand of the person who carves. 

A loin of veal or a quarter of lamb, with the thick edge 
toward the carver, and the inside uppermost. A leg of veal, 
with the inside up, and the thick end toward the right hand. A 
leg of mutton or lamb in the same way. A fore quarter of 
lamb or a breast of veal, with the outside up, and the thick 
edge toward the carver. A ham, with the outside up, and the 
thick end toward the right hand. <A turkey or goose upon 
the back, with the neck toward the left hand. fF owls on the 
back, and if there is more than one, with the legs toward the 
carver. 

The appearance of a fowl or turkey when on the table, de- 
pends much on its having been handsomely skewered. 


140 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


TO SELECT POULTRY AND PREPARE IT 
FOR BEING COOKED. 


A youne turkey has a smooth leg, and a soft bill, and if fresh, 


the eyes will be bright, and the feet moist. Old turkeys have 


scaly, stiff feet. 

Young fowls have a tender skin, smooth legs, and the breast 
bone readily yields to the pressure of the finger. ‘The best are 
those that have yellow legs. The feet and legs of old fowls 
look as if they had seen hard service in the world. 

Young ducks feel tender under the wing, and the web of the 
foot is transparent. The best are thick and hard on the 
breast. 

Young geese have yellow bills, and the feet are yellow and 
supple; the skin may be easily broken by the head of a pin; 
the breast is plump, and the fat white. An old goose is unfit 
for the human stomach. 

To keep fowls in warm weather, take out the heart and liver 
and parboil them, set them aside in a cool place, to be used in 
the gravy. Wash the fowls as clean as possible from the blood, 
and plunge one at a time into a kettle of boiling water for five 
minutes, moving it about, that the water may penetrate every 
part. Drain and wipe them dry and pepper the inside and the 
necks. This process will enable you to keep them two days in 
warm weather. In cold weather all sorts of poultry should be 
kept at least a week; but care should be taken that they do not 
freeze, as they are not quite so good for being frozen. 

Pick out the pin feathers very carefully. A pair of tweezers 
is sometimes necessary to take out those which a knife will not 
remove. Cut out the oil bag above the tail. Singe off all the 
hair by turning it quickly over a blazing paper. Cut off the 
legs at the joint above the feet; trim the neck, and if too long 
cut off some of it; draw out the crop and be sure to take out 





> 


TO ROAST A TURKEY. 141 


every thing from the inside. The best way of removing the 
crop is to make an incision along the backbone, just below the 
neck. It can be removed in this way as easily as by the com-. 
mon method, and the appearance of the bird, when laid on the 
dish, is much better. Be careful, in removing the gall bag, not 
to break it, as it will make every spot it touches bitter, and the 
most careful washing will not remove it. If there is much fat, 
trim off some of it. Throw the liver, heart, and gizzard into 
water and wash them. Wash the fowl in several waters. It is 
then ready to be stuffed and skewered, as directed under the 
head, Zo roast a Turkey. Some persons think fowls much bet- 
ter not to be washed; but they cannot be clean without. 

The sharpness of the breast bone, which is a defect in the 
appearance of a fowl on the table, may be remedied in the fol- 
lowing way: When preparing it to be cooked, take a small 
sharp knife, and passing it up the body, cut off the little slender 
bones which join the hug-me-close* to the side. Then push 
down the breast bone by pressing heavily upon it. A little 
practice will make it easy to do this. 


To Roast a Turkey. 

Observe the directions under the head, To prepare Poultry for 
being cooked. Make a stuffing, and fill both the breast and body. 
Sew it up with a needle and coarse thread ; tie the skin over 
the end of the neck with a thread or piece of twine. Pusha 
short skewer through above the tail, and a long one through the 
body under the thighs; then tie the ends of the legs down with 
a twine, close upon the short skewer. Push another long 
skewer through the body, so as to confine the wings, and tie 
them round with atwine. Put the spit through the length of the 
body, and fasten it with two skewers; flour it, and put it to the 
fire with a little water in the roaster. It should be roasted 
rather slowly. A turkey weighing twelve pounds should roast 


* This is the bone on each side the neck of a fowl, which answers to 
the collar bone in the human frame. 


142 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


three hours; one weighing six or seven, an hour and a half. 
When half done, flour it again thickly; when this is browned, 
baste it often. If much fat roasts out, dip off most of it when 
the turkey is about half done, and put a small piece of butter 
into the gravy, and baste the turkey with it. Having washed 
the heart, liver, &c., boil them an hour and a half, in a sauce- 
pan in a pint of water; skim them when the water first boils 
up; if it boils away, add more. 

To make the gravy, take out the heart and gizzard, mash 
the liver, and put it back into the water in which it was boiled, 
and pour the gravy also out of the roaster into it; set it on the 
coals, add browned flour, wet smooth, and a little butter and 
pepper, and boil it a minute or two, and then serve it. The 
liver should never be put under the wing, or laid upon the dish, 
but always be used in the gravy, as it is greatly improved by it. 

More directions respecting gravies may be found under the 
head, Directions for making various kinds of Gravies. 


To Boil a Turkey. 


Stuff a young turkey, weighing six or seven pounds, with 
bread, butter, salt, pepper, and minced parsley; skewer up the 
legs and wings as if to roast; flour a cloth and pin around it. 
Boil it forty minutes, then set off the kettle and let it stand, 
close covered, half an hour more. The steam will cook it suf- 
ficiently. To be eaten with drawn butter and stewed oysters. 


To Roast Chickens. 


Observe the same directions in stuffing them as for a turkey. 
If you wish to roast several before an open fire, the spit may 
be put through side-ways, instead of length-ways, and four or 
five can thus be roasted at once, in a large roaster. Boil the 
inwards and make the gravy as for a turkey. Roast them an 
hour and a half. | 





ON COOKING FO.,,LS, 143 


’ 


To Boil Chickens. 

Make the same dressing as directed for a boiled turkey, or 
boil them without stuffing if preferred. Skewer them up into a 
good shape, as when prepared to roast, and boil them an hour 
and a quarter. Serve them with drawn butter and cut parsley. 
It is an improvement to mash the livers and put into the butter. 
If chickens can be carefully skimmed, they need no cloth around 
them. 


To Broil Chickens. 

Cut them open through the back, take out the inwards, wash 
them and wipe them dry; place the inside down on the grid- 
iron. ‘They must broil slowly, and care be taken they do not 
burn. Turn them in ten minutes. To keep them flat, lay a 
tin sheet upon them, with a weight. Broil twenty-five minutes, 
and dress with butter, pepper, and salt. They can be broiled 
best over wood coals. 


To Fricassee Chickens. 

Boil them forty minutes in water enough barely to cover 
them. Take off the scum as fast as it rises. Take them up 
and carve them in the usual way. Put part of the water in 
which they were boiled into a spider or stew-pan. For two 
chickens rub a piece of butter as large as an egg, and a spoonful 
of flour together, and stir into the water as it boils up. Add 
some salt, and a gill of cream, or milk. Lay in the pieces of 
chicken, cover the pan close, and stew them gently eight or ten 
minutes. Parsley cut fine is a decided improvement. 


Chicken Salad. 

Boil or roast a nice fowl. When cold, cut off all the meat, 
and chop it a little, but not very small; cut up a large bunch of 
celery and mix with the chicken. Boil four eggs hard, mash, 
and mix them with sweet oil, pepper, salt, mustard, and a gill of 
vinegar. ‘Beat this mixture very thoroughly together, and just 
before dinner pour it over the chicken. 


144 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Chicken Pie. 

Boil chickens in water barely to cover them, forty minutes. 
Skim the water carefully. Take them out into a dish, and cut 
them up as they should be carved if placed upon the table. If 
the skin is very thick remove it. Have ready, lined with a 
thick paste, a deep dish, of a size proportioned to the number of 
chickens you wish to use; put in the pieces, with the hearts 
and livers, in layers; sprinkle each layer with flour, salt, and 
pepper, and put on each piece of chicken a thin shaving of but- 
ter ; do this till you have laid in all the pieces ; put rather more 
of the spice, flour, and butter over the top layer than on the pre- 
vious ones, and pour in as much of the liquor in which the 
chickens were boiled as you can without danger of its boiling 
over. Lay on the upper crust, and close the edges very care- 
fully with flour and water; prick the top with a knife. Cut 
leaves of crust and ornament it. Bake two hours. The crust 
for chicken pie should be twice as thick as for fruit pies. Use 
mace and nutmeg if you wish. 


To Roast Ducks. 

Flour them thick and baste them often. If they are roasted 
before the fire, an hour is long enough; if in a stove, an hour 
and a half. For making the stuffing and gravy, see the direc- 
tions. 


To Boil Ducks. 

Scald and lay them in warm water a few minutes, then lay 
them in a dish, pour boiling milk over them, and let them lie in 
it two or three hours. Then take them out, dredge them with 
flour, and put them into a saucepan of cold water, cover close 
and boil them twenty minutes. Then take them out and set 
them, covered, where they will keep warm, and make the sauce 
as follows : — 

Chop a large onion and a bunch of parsley fine, and put them 
into a gill of good gravy. [See receipt for Stock.] Add a 
table-spoonfal of lemon juice, a little salt, pepper, and a small 





- ON COOKING FOWLS. 145 


piece of butter. Stew these ingredients half an hour ; then lay 
the ducks into a dish, and pour the sauce over them. 


To Roast a Goose. 

Boil it half an hour to take out the strong, oily taste, then 
stuff and roast it exactly like a turkey. If it is a young one, 
after being boiled, an hour’s roasting will be sufficient. 


To Boil Partridges. 

Put them in a floured cloth into boiling water, and boil them 
fast fifteen minutes. For sauce, rub a very small piece of but- 
ter into some flour, and boil in a teacup of cream. Add cut 
parsley if preferred. 


To Roast Partridges. 
Prepare them like chickens, and roast three quarters of. an 
hour. 


To Roast Pigeons. 

Pick out the pin feathers, or if there are a great many, pull 
off the skin.. Examine the inside very carefully. Soak them 
half an hour in a good deal of water, to take out the blood. 
Then boil them with a little salt in the water, half an hour, and 
take off the scum as fast as it rises. ‘Take them out, flour them 
well, and lay them into a dripping-pan ; strain the water in which 
they were boiled, and put a part of it into the pan; stir in it a 
little piece of butter, and baste the pigeons often. Add pepper 
and sweet marjoram if you prefer. Roast them nearly two 
hours. Pigeons need to be cooked a long time. 


Pigeons in Disguise. 

Prepare them just as directed in the receipt above, and boil 
them long enough to remove all the blood, then pepper and salt 
them, make a good paste, roll each pigeon close in a piece of it; 
tie them separately in a cloth, taking care not to break the 
paste. Boil them gently an hour and a half, in a good deal of 


13 


146 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


water. Lay them in a hot dish, and pour a gravy over them 
made of cream, parsley, and a little butter. 


Pigeon Pie. 

Pick, soak, and boil pigeons with the same care as directed 
in the receipt for roasting them. Make a crust just as for 
chicken or veal pie. Lay in the pigeons whole, and season 
with pepper, salt, shavings of butter, and sweet marjoram ; flour 
them thickly, then strain the water in which they were boiled, 
and fill the dish two thirds with it. Lay the top crust over, 
and close the edges well. Make many incisions with the point 
of a knife, or a large fork, and bake an hour and a half. 


Woodcocks, Quails, and other small birds. 

Pull off the skin, split them down the back with a sharp knife, 
pepper the breasts, and lay the inside first upon the gridiron. 
Broil them slowly at first, skewer a small bit of pork upon each 
one. Turn them after seven or eight minutes. Broil them 
twenty minutes. | 

If you wish to make a pie, do just as directed for the pigeon 


pie. 


Calcutta Curry. 

Boil and joint two chickens. Fry three or four slices of salt 
pork, and when they are nearly brown add a large spoonful of but- 
ter. Cut three or four onions fine, and fry them a light brown ; 
then remove them, and the pork, and fry the chickens gently 
in the fat; strew over the meat while it is frying a spoonful 
and a half of good curry powder, and dredge in flour. Then 
add hot water to make sufficient gravy ; if the gravy is not thick 
enough, mix a little flour smooth in cold water, and stir in. Add 
salt to suit your taste. This dish is best when stewed slowly. 
Garnish with slices of lemon. 

Partridges, pigeons, rabbits, sweet-breads, breasts of mutton, 
lamb, and veal, are all used for curries. 

There is a difference in the quality of curry powder. The 





SOUPS. 147 


above measure, is for the strongest kind, and is enough for a 
quart of gravy. ‘The East Indians never use flour in thicken- 
ing the gravy, but depend on the curry powder. 

To prepare rice for Calcutta curry, wash a pint in several 
waters, and put it into a kettle, containing a gallon of warm 
water, with salt in it. Cook it ten minutes from the time it 
begins to boil; then pour it into a sieve, and when the water is 
entirely drained out, shake the sieve, and the particles of rice 
will separate, and it is ready to serve. 


SOUPS. 


Sotr is economical food, and by a little attention may be 
made good with very small materials. It should never be made 
of meat that has been kept too long. If meat is old, or has be- 
come tainted in the least, the defect is peculiarly offensive in 
soup. All meat and bones for soup should be boiled a long 
time, and set aside until the next day in order that the fat may 
be entirely removed. Then add the vegetables, rice, and herbs, 
and boil it from an hour to an hour anda half. The water in 
which fresh meat is boiled should be saved for soup and broth ; 
and the bones of roast beef should never be thrown away with- 
out boiling, as they make excellent soup, and if not used for 
this purpose, should be boiled in order to save the fat which 
they contain. 


A Rich Soup. 

The richest soups are made by using several kinds of meat 
together ; as beef, mutton, and veal. A shank of each of these 
with very little meat upon it, should be boiled several hours the 
first day; and vegetables, with various kinds of spice, added 
the day it is to be served. Nice soups should be strained ; and 
they are good with macaroni, added afterwards, and boiled half 


148 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


or three quarters of an hour. If you have the water, in which 
chickens have been boiled, the soup will be much. better if the 
beef, mutton, and veal are boiled in this, instead of pure water. 


Roast Beef Bone Soup. 


Boil the bones at least three hours, or until every particle of 
meat is loose; then take them out and scrape off the meat and 
set aside the water; the next day take from it all the fat, cut 
up an onion, two or three potatoes and a turnip, and put into it. 
Add, half an hour before dinner, powdered sweet majoram, cat- 
sup, and some salt. Boil it an hour. 


Shank Soup. 


When you buy a shank, have the butcher cut it into several 
pieces, and split open the thickest part of the bone. Boil it — 
three or four hours and set it aside. ‘The next day, take off the 
fat, and if you do not wish to eat the meat in the soup, take that 
out also; add vegetables, etc., as in the preceding receipt. To 
make a conyenient use of the meat, see the receipt for minced 
meat. 


Ox-tail Soup. 

Take two tails, divide them at the joints, soak them in warm 
water. Put them into cold water in a gallon pot or stew-pan. 
Skim off the froth carefully. When the meat is boiled to 
shreds, take out the bones, and add a chopped onion and carrot. 
Use spices and sweet herbs or not, as you prefer. Boil it three 
or four hours. 


J 


Soup of the remnants of Calf’s Head. | 

Remove the fat from the water in which the head was boiled, 
and put into it the pieces left of the first day’s dinner, cut up 
small. Add cloves, crackers, pepper, browned flour, curry 
powder, and, if you choose, catsup. Boil it an hour. 





SOUPS — TURKEY SOUP, PEA SOUP, ETC. 149 


Mock-Turtle Soup. 

Add to the foregoing ingredients, red wine, nutmeg, and 
mace; and force meat balls, made in the following way, — Chop 
some of the meat fine, and put with it an equal quantity of 
fine bread crumbs, onions chopped small, cayenne and black 
pepper, sweet marjoram and powdered clove. Beat two eggs 
and with them stir the ingredients together, and make into balls, 
and fry in butter enough to brown them; then put the balls 
and the butter into the soup. 


Turkey Soup. 


The remnants of a young ae make good soup. Put all 
the bones, and little bits left of a dinner into about three quarts 
of water. If you have turkey gravy, or the remnants of chick- 
- ens, add them also, and boil them two hours or more. Skim 
out the meat and bones, and set the water aside in a cool place 
till the next day. ‘Then take all the fat from the top ; take the 
bones and pieces of skin out from the meat and return it to the 
liquor. Ifsome of the dressing has been left, put that in also, 
and boil all together a few minutes. If more seasoning is 
needed, add it to suit your taste. 


White Soup. 
Boil a knuckle of veal to shreds, add a quarter of a pound of 
vermicelli, half a pint of cream, and lemon peel and mace. 


Pea Soup. 

Take a pint of split peas, and when carefully picked over and 
washed, put them into a pint of water to soak over night. 
Three hours before dinner, put them into a pot with a quart 
more water, and about half a pound of pork (less if you wish 
the soup not very rich.) Boil it steadily, and be careful to stir 
it often, lest it should burn. Jt may need more water béfore 
dinner, and can be made of whatever thickness you prefer. 

If you prefer to have the soup without pork (which makes it 

13 * 


150 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


too rich for many persons), use the liquor in which beef or other 
fresh meat has been boiled instead of water, and use no pork. 
This is a very good way. 


Vegetable Soup. 

Take two turnips, two carrots, four potatoes, one large onion, 
one parsnip, and a few stalks of celery or some parsley. Cut 
them all very fine, or chop them in a tray; put them, with a 
spoonful of rice, into three quarts of water, and boil the whole 
three hours. ‘Then strain the soup through a colander or coarse 
sieve, return it to the kettle, and put it over the fire. Adda 
piece of butter of the size of a nut, stir the soup till the butter is 
melted, dredge in a little flour, let it boil up and then serve it. 


Mutton or Lamb Broth. 

Take the water in which a leg of mutton or lamb was boiled 
on the previous day, take off the fat and boil it two hours with a 
turnip, an onion, and a carrot, cut small. Add some minced 
parsley and a spoonful of rice. All these, except the parsley, 
should be put in while the water is cold. Any little pieces of 
the neck, ribs, or shank will make excellent broth. 


Veal Broth. 

Take a knuckle, or if you have a large family, two knuckles 
of veal. Put them over the fire, at least three hours before 
dinner-time ; use not more than two quarts of water for two 
knuckles, and skim it until it is no longer necessary. (Veal 
requires more attention in this respect than any other meat). 
When this is done, add a spoonful of rice. A quarter of an 
hour before it is to be served, put in some minced parsley, 
salt, and pepper It is a very nutritious dish. Some persons 
add two or three slices of salt pork. 

It is a good way, after having taken off cutlets from the 
large end of a leg of veal, to boil the entire piece that remains, 
with the knuckle. Boil it two hours or two hours and a half. 
Make broth of the liquor by putting in a small gill of rice, and 








EGGS — BOILED, FRIED, ETC. 151 


some parsley; add the parsley about ten minutes before it is 
served. 
Melt butter with cut parsley, to eat on the meat. 
In families that like salt pork, a niece should be boiled sep- 
arately to eat with the veal. 


EGGS. 


Boiled. 

NEw laid eggs require half a minute longer to cook than 
others. The fresher they are the better, and the more health- 
ful. Eggs over a week old should never be boiled; they will 
de to fry. Put them into water that boils, but not furiously, as 
it will crack them. If you like them very soft, boil them three 
minutes. If you wish the yolk hard, boil them five minutes. 
To be served with salad, they should be boiled twelve minutes, 


Fried. 

After you have fried ham, drop in the eggs one at a time. In 
about a minute dip the boiling fat with a spoon over them again 
and again. ‘This will prevent the necessity of turning them, 
which it is difficult to do without breaking the yolks. Take 
them up in about two minutes and a half, with a skimmer. The 
fat that roasts out of a ham that is browned in an oven, is good 
for frying eggs. 


Poached. 

Set a tin pan or pail on the range, containing a pint of milk; 
then beat six eggs well. When the milk is very nearly boiling, 
put in a teaspoonful of salt, and half a table-spoonful of butter ; 
then add the eggs, and stir steadily, until it thickens, which will 
be in a minute or two. Set it off before it becomes very thick, 
and continue to stir it a minute more. Have ready, in a warm 


* 


152 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


dish, two slices of toasted bread, spread with butter, and pour 
the egg over them. It should be a little thicker than boiled 
custard. This is an ample breakfast for six or seven persons. 


Dropped. 

Drop fresh eggs into a saucepan of boiling, water with salt in 
it. Put them in gently, so as not to break the yolks. Have 
ready slices of buttered toast, and either take up the eggs with 
a skimmer or pour off the water, and then turn them out of the 
saucepan upon the toast. Add more salt, if they were not 
seasoned enough by that which was in the water. 


Omelet (baked, and very simple). 

Heat three gills of milk with a dessert spoonful of butter in 
it; beat four or five eggs thoroughly, wet a table-spoonful of 
flour with a teaspoonful of salt, smooth, in a little cold milk. 
Mix the eggs with the flour and cold milk, then add the hot 
milk, stirring very fast. Put the mixture into a buttered dish 
just large enough to contain it. It will bake in a quick oven in 
fifteen or twenty minutes. Besides being very palatable, it is a 
beautiful-looking dish for the breakfast-table, and a very con- 
venient addition to a small dinner. 

The old rule is, eight eggs to a pint of milk; but six is 
enough. 


Omelet (Fried). 

Make a batter of three eggs, two gills of milk, and two table- 
spoonfuls of flour. Beat it well, and add chopped onion, pars- 
ley, salt, and nutmeg. Fry brown in nice drippings or butter. 


Another. 
Make a batter in the same way, and add a gill of grated ham. 
Fry in nice fat, or the drippings of a roasted ham. 


Another. 
Wash a piece of salt cod as large as your hand, and soak it 








DIRECTIONS RESPECTING FISH. tos 


in warm water over night. In the morning take out the bones 
and chop it very fine ; then put it into two or three gills of milk 
and boil it up. Stir in a piece of butter half the size of an egg, 
and a table-spoonful of flour wet smooth in cold milk; then add 
three eggs well beaten, and boil it half a minute more. 


DIRECTIONS RESPECTING FISH. 


PurcHASE those which have just been caught. Of this you 
can judge by their being hard under the pressure of the finger. 
Fish lose their best flavor soon, and a few hours make a wide 
difference in the taste of some sorts. 

Cod are best in cold weather. Mackerel are best in Au- 
gust, September, and October. Halibut, in May and June. 
Oysters are good from September to April; but are not very 
good or healthy from the first of May to the last of August. 
Lobsters are best at the season when oysters are not good. 

They must be put alive into boiling water and be boiled from 
thirty-five to forty minutes. Allow a large spoonful of salt to 
every quart of water in which they are boiled. The medium 
sized ones are the best. The shells of old Jobsters are apt to be 
encrusted. On no account should they be eaten later than 
eighteen hours after being boiled. Some persons never eat 
them after twelve hours. Pond fish should be soaked in strong 
salt and water to take out the earthy taste. Fish may be kept 
good several days, if frozen. All large fish need to be soaked 
in water that is a little warm, before being cleaned; and they 
should be cleaned with great care, for even if there are few scales 
upon them, there is a great deal of slimy substance which a 
knife will remove. A boiled fish is done when the eyes turn 
white. 

When you broil fish, rub the gridiron with lard or drippings, 


154 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


to prevent its sticking. Do not attempt to turn it like steaks, 
with a knife and fork, but lay an old dish upon it, and hold it 
on with one hand, while you turn over the gridiron with the 
other. Lay the skin side down first. 

Fish that is to be fried, should be cut up and Jaid in a cloth 
for an hour that the moisture may be absorbed. It should then 
be rolled in fine bread crumbs, or Indian meal. That which is 
apt to break in frying may be kept whole by being dipped in a 
beaten egg, before it is rolled in the bread crumbs. Oysters 
should be skimmed out of the liquor before being cooked, in 
order that it may be strained, as there are often bits of shell 
in it. 


To Boil Cod. 
Rub a. little salt down .the bone, and over the thick part. 
Wrap it in a cloth and put it over the fire in cold water; put- 
ting it into hot water at first will cause the outside to break 
before the centre is done. See that it is covered with water, 


and throw in a table-spoonful of salt. Take off the froth care-- 


fully, and boil it halfan hour. Fresh cod is eaten with oyster 
sauce and melted butter, or with the latter alone, prepared as 
directed under the head of Drawn Butter, with the addition of 
parsley and if you choose three or four eggs boiled very hard, 
cut up and put into it. 

The head and shoulders of cod are so much thicker than 
the other part, that it is impossible to boil the fish whole and 
have all parts equally cooked. It is therefore a good way to 
buy a large cod, divide it, boil the head and shoulders, and fry 
the other part, or sprinkle it with salt, and after a day or two, 
broil it. 


Cod Sounds and Tongues. 

Soak them in warm water, scrape them thoroughly, and boil 
them ten minutes in milk and water: To be served with egg 
sauce. 











FISH — BAKED, FRIED, ETC. 155 


To Bake a Cod or Black Fish. 

The simplest way of baking fish, is very good. Spread little 
pieces of bread, with butter; pepper and salt them, and lay 
them inside the fish. ‘Then take a needle and thread and sew 
it up. Put a small skewer through the lip and tail, and fasten 
them together with a piece of twine. Lay it into a dish, in which 
it may be served, put two or three thin slices of salt pork upon 
it, sprinkle salt over it, and flour it well. Baste it several times 
with the liquor which cooks out of it. A fish weighing four 
pounds will cook in an hour. 


To make a richer dish. 

Chop fine a half a teacupful of fat ham ; add a large spoonful 
of butter, some parsley, thyme, marjoram, a little salt, nutmeg, 
and pepper. If you have oysters, adda few. Beat two eggs, 
and put all together with fine bread crumbs enough to compound 
them. With this, stuff the fish, which should be floured thick, 
and wind a string around it to keep it together, or else sew it 
up. Fasten the head and tail together with a skewer. Bake 
it ina stove an hour. JBaste it with butter. 


To Fry Cod (or other Fish). 

After it has been cleansed, cut it into pieces of the proper 
size, and lay them in a cloth in order to dry them. Fry four 
or five slices of salt pork, or use instead, lard or nice beef drip- 
pings; but pork is preferable. When the slices are fried crisp, 
take them out, dip the pieces of fish in a plate of fine Indian 
meal, and lay them into the spider. Fry them brown. When 
the fish is done, Jay it with the pork into a hot dish. Pour a 
little water into the spider, boil it up, dredge in browned flour, 
and pour the whole over the fish. 


To make a Chowder. 

Fry three slices of salt pork, crisp, in a deep kettle; take 
them out and lay in slices of potatoes; flour and pepper them ; 
then lay in slices of cod or haddock, which must also be floured 


156 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


and peppered. Put in alternate layers of potatoes and fish, 
with flour, salt, and pepper, till it is all laid in. Pour over it 
boiling water enough almost to cover it. When it boils up, 
dredge in more flour. Dip a few crackers in cold water and 
lay over the top, and cover the kettle close. Boil it three quar- 
ters of an hour. Use ship bread, if it is preferred. Some peo- 
ple add a cup of milk just before it is served. Add part of a 
fresh lemon, if you like. 


Another Way. 

Fry three or four slices of salt pork, soak a dozen hard 
crackers, cut up four or five onions. When the pork is fried 
brown take it out, and lay in half of the crackers, and half the 
onions. Cut up the cod, and lay the pieces next, then the rest 
of the crackers and onions, season it with pepper and salt, pour 
boiling water enough into the kettle to cover the whole. Let it 
stew moderately an hour. 

The fish should be fresh from the water. Cod’s heads and 
sound bones make the richest chowder. 


To Boil Salt Cod. 

Lay a piece of salt fish into the cellar a few days before it is 
to be cooked, that it may become softened by the dampness. 
The afternoon before it is to be boiled, wash it carefully in sev- 
eral waters. It is well to keep a brush on purpose to cleanse 
salt fish, and use it repeatedly while it is soaking. Leave it in 
water till morning, and then put it into a kettle, and set it where 
it will keep warm, and at length simmer, but not boil. Eat it 
with beets and potatoes, and drawn butter ; or with pork scraps 
if you prefer. 

To prepare the Scraps. Cut salt pork into very small square 
pieces, put them in a saucepan, and cook them till they are 
crisped. A quarter of a pound of pork will be enough for a 
family of five, and it will take half an hour to fry it enough. 

There is a great difference in the quality of salt fish, The 
Dun is considered best. 











MINCED SALT FISH, FISH-BALLS, ETC. 157 


Minced Salt Fish. 

Pick out all the bones and bits of skin the day that the fish 
is boiled, as it is most easily done while it is warm. Next day 
chop it fine, and also all the potatoes left of the previous dinner; 
they are better for this purpose than those that are just boiled. 
Lay three or four slices of salt pork into a spider, and fry 
till they are crisped; take them out, and put the chopped fish 
and potato into the middle, and press it out equally, so that the 
fat will be at the sides. Cover it close; after about five minutes 
put into the centre a gill of milk, and cover it again. In a few 
minutes more stir it, but so carefully as not to disturb the sides 
and bottom, clse a brown crust will not form. Add more milk 
if it is toodry. When thoroughly heated through, stir in a small 
piece of butter, loosen the crust from the sides with a knife, and 
turn it out upon a hot dish. If it is done right, it will come out 
whole, and nicely browned. 


Fish-Balls. 

Chop and mix fish and potatoes in the same manner as di- 
rected in the other receipt; melt a small piece of butter in a 
little milk, and when you have stirred it into the fish, make it 
up into little flat cakes, roll them in a plate of flour, and fry in 
hot lard, drippings, or the fat of fried pork. 


To Boil or Broil Halibut. 

If you wish to boil it, purchase a thick slice cut through the 
body, or the tail piece, which is considered the richest. Wrap 
it in a floured cloth and lay it in cold water with salt in it. 
A piece weighing six pounds, should be cooked half an hour 
after the water begins to boil. It is eaten with drawn butter 
and parsley. If any of it is left, lay it in a deep dish and 
sprinkle on it a little salt, throw over it a dozen or two of 
cloves, pour in some vinegar, and add butternut vinegar or 
catsup. It will, when cold, have much the flavor of lobster. 

The nape of the halibut is considered best to broil ; but 4 slice 
through the body a little more. than an inch thick, if sprinkled 

14 


158 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


with salt an hour or two before being cooked, will broil without 
breaking, arid is excellent. When taken up, put on butter, pep- 
per, and salt. 


To Boil Salmon. 

Clean a salmon in salt and water. Allow twenty minutes for 
boiling every pound. Wrap it in a floured cloth, and lay it in 
the kettle while the water is cold. Make the water very salt. 
Skim it well; in this respect it requires more care than any 
other fish. Serve it with drawn butter and parsley. 

If salmon is not thoroughly cooked it is unhealthy. When 
a piece of boiled fresh fish of any kind is left of dinner, it is a 
very good way to lay it in a deep dish, and pour over it a little 
vinegar, with catsup, and add pepper or any other spice which 
is preferred. 


To Broil Salmon. 

Cut it in slices an inch and a half thick, dry it in a clean cloth, 
salt it, and lay it upon a hot gridiron, the bars having been rub- 
bed with lard or drippings. It cooks very well in a stove oven, 
laid in a dripping-pan. 


To Broil Shad. 

Procure fresh caught shad. It requires twenty minutes to 
broil, on moderately hot coals. To turn it, see Directions 
respecting Fish. Sprinkle it with salt, and spread on a 
little butter. Fresh fish requires a longer time to broil than 
meat. 


The simplest way of Cooking Oysters. 

Take them, unopened, rinse the shells clean, and lay them 
on hot coals, or the top of a cooking-stove, with the deepest side 
of the shell down, ‘so as not to lose the liquor. When they be- 
gin to open a little, they are done, and the upper shell will be 
easily removed with a knife, and the oyster is to be eaten from 
the lower shell. The table should be supplied with coarse nap- 
kins, and a large dish to receive the shells. 





; 





FISH — OYSTER PIE, ETC. 159 


Oyster Pie. 

Make a nice paste and lay into a deep dish, turn a teacup 
ddéwn in the centre. This will draw the liquor under it, and 
prevent it from boiling over; it also keeps the upper crust from 
falling in and becoming clammy. Lay in the oysters, add a lit- 
tle pepper, butter, and flour; make a wide incision in the upper 
crust, so that when the pie is nearly done, you can pour in half 
a teacup of cream or milk. Secure the edges of the crust 
according to the directions for making Pastry, and bake it an 
hour. It should be put into the oven immediately, else the 
under crust will be clammy. Use but little of the liquor. 


To Fry Oysters. 

Lay them in a cloth a few minutes to dry them, then dip 
each one into sifted cracker crumbs, and fry in just enough fat 
to brown them. Put pepper and salt on them, before you turn 
them over. 


Escaloped Oysters. 

Butter a deep dish, and cover the bottom and sides with fine 
crumbs of bread. Put in half the oysters, with pounded mace, 
pepper, and salt, and cover them with bread crumbs and small 
bits of butter; add the rest of the oysters with pepper and 
mace, and cover as before. Put in but little of the liquor, as 
oysters part with a good deal of moisture in cooking, and if the 
mixture is too wet, it is not as good. Bake a quart of oysters 
half an hour. <A plainer dish, with little butter and no spice is 
very good. 


Pickled Oysters. 

Boil the liquor of an hundred oysters and pour it over them. 
When they have stood a few minutes, take them out and boil 
the liquor again, with a gill of vinegar, a few whole black pep- 
pers, and two or three blades of mace. When this is cold, pour 
it over the oysters, and cover them closely. ‘This is a very 
good way to keep them. 


160 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Stewed Oysters. 


Boil them up very quickly, then set them off, in order to take 


off the scum which rises. Have réady, for a quart of oysters, 
half a table-spoonful of butter, with as much flour rubbed into 


it as it will receive. Return the kettle to the fire, and when it — 


begins to simmer, stir in the butter till it is melted, and then serve. 


Another Way. 

Boil a pint of milk; rub a heaping table-spoonful of flour 
smooth in cold milk, and strain into it; then strain in the liquor 
of a quart of oysters, and when it boils up again, add half a 
spoonful of butter, a little salt, and the oysters, and let the 
whole boil two minutes more. 


[In opening lobsters, care must be taken to remove the poi- - 


sonous part. This lies in the head, all of which must be thrown 
away, as well as the vein which passes from it, through the 


body. All the other parts are good. Break the shells with a 


hammer. ‘The liquor and the spawn should be saved. ] 


Lobster Salad. 

To the yolks of four eggs, boiled hard, add a little sweet oil, 
mustard, pepper, salt, and a gill of vinegar. Stir these all to- 
gether along time. Cut up celery or lettuce fine, sprinkle it 
on the lobster in the dish in which it is to be served, and pour 
the mixture-over it. 

The simplest way of serving lobsters is very good, and most 
healthful. ‘Take them from the shells and eat them cold, with 
vinegar and mustard. 


Stewed Lobster. 

Take one large or two small lobsters; cut them in pieces, and 
put into the stew-pan with the liquor two glasses of wine, one 
teaspoonful of fine allspice, half a teaspoonful of mixed mustard, 
a little cayenne, and a quarter of a pound of butter rubbed into 
some flour. If there is not liquor enough for the gravy, add a 
little water. Simmer the whole a half an hour. 








FISH — BAKED BASS, ETC. 161 


Baked Bass. 

Make a stuffing of pounded cracker or crumbs of bread, an 
ege, pepper, clove, salt, and butter. Fill it very full, and when 
sewed up, grate over it a small nutmeg, and sprinkle it with 
pounded cracker. Then pour on the white of an egg, and 
melted butter. Bake it an hour in the same dish in which it is 
to be served. 


Potted Shad (a very convenient and excellent dish). 

Take three or four fresh caught shad, and when nicely 
dressed, cut them down the middle, and across in pieces about 
three inches wide; put these pieces into a jar in layers, with 
salt, whole cloves, pepper-corns, and allspice sprinkled between. 
When all is laid in, put in sharp vinegar enough just to cover 
them,and bake in the oven. It is the best way to put the jar 
into a brick oven after the bread is drawn, if considerable heat 
still remains, and let it stand two or three hours, or put it into 
a range oven at night, to stand till morning. This will keep 
several weeks, even in hot weather. Almost any fish of 
the size of shad may be done in the same way. 


Brook Trout. 
If they are small, fry them with salt pork. If large, boil 
them, and serve with drawn butter. 


Clams. 

The round clams, ‘sometimes called quahogs, are much the 
most healthy. ‘The small ones, with thin edges, are to be pre- 
ferred. ‘They may be roasted upon a gridiron, or laid in an 
iron pan upon a stove. When the shell begins to open, pour 
the liquor into a sauce-pan, and cut the clam from the shell and 
put with it. When all are taken out, set the sauce-pan on the 
coals, and when the clams boil up, add pepper and a bit of but- 
ter, and pour them upon toasted bread. 

Clam broth is made by washing them very clean, and boil- 
ing till the shells open; then take out the clams and put 

14* 


162 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


them into the water again. Boil them a few minutes, add 


a little butter and flour, and put toasted crackers in the tureen 
into which you put the broth. This is very healthy for feeble 
persons. 


Smelts. 
Soak smelts a little while in warm water; scrape them, and 


cut the heads so far that you can gently pull them off, and thus. 


draw out the dark vein that runs through the body; then rinse 
and lay them into a dry cloth while you fry two or three slices 
of salt pork crisp. Dip the smelts into a plate of fine Indian 
meal, and fry them brown. If you fry them in lard or drip- 
pings, sprinkle them with salt, but not until they are nearly 
done, as they will not brown as well, if it is put on at first. 


To prepare Salt Shad, Mackerel, or Halibut’s Fin to Broil. 

Shad should be soaked twenty-four hours, the water being 
changed one or twice. Mackerel often need soaking thirty, or 
even thirty-six hours; and halibut’s fin thirty-six. A gallon 
of water is the least in which either of them should be soaked. 
Grease the gridiron, and lay the skin side down. (See Direc- 
tions at the head of this chapter.) 


Smoked Halibut. 

It should be washed in warm water, wiped and laid for only 
three or four minutes on the gridiron. Halibut is so solid 
a fish that it is not easy to get that which is cured perfectly free 
from taint. 


DIRECTIONS FOR SALTING MEAT, 
FISH, &c. 


To some young housekeepers, the salting of meat, and taking 
care of it, and of smoked meat, are perplexing. Perhaps the 





. is  -” —e” ee ee ee — 





DIRECTIONS FOR SALTING MEAT, ETC. 163 


following directions may assist them. The best pieces to corn 
are the end of the rump, the thin end of the sirloin, and the 
edge-bone. If you like it with alternate streaks of fat and lean, 
the pieces at the ends of the ribs, called by butchers the rattle- 
ran, are very good. The edge-bone affords the most lean meat. 

‘khe best piece of pork to corn is the shoulder. It is a good 
way to divide it, if large, and stuff half of it with sage and bread 
crumbs, and roast it; and corn the other half. 

In winter, hang fresh killed meat up two or three days be- 
fore putting it into brine, as it will thus become more tender. 
Make a brine of four quarts of water, three pints of salt, half a 
table-spoonful of saltpetre, and a pint of molasses, or a pound 
of coarse brown sugar. Mix it thoroughly without boiling it. 
In this lay the meat, and see that it is entirely covered. It is 
well to look at it after a day or two, and if necessary, turn it 
the other side up. It will be good in a few days, but it is better 
to let it lie three or four weeks before boiling it. The same 
brine will do for many successive pieces in winter. But fora 
family that like salt meat, it is the best way to make a double 
measure, and put into it at once as much meat as it will cover. 
It should be kept in a firkin or tub, with a close cover. 

After a considerable quantity of meat has thus been cured, 
scald and skim the brine, add a little more molasses, salt, and 
saltpetre, and let it become cold before meat is put into it. 

A brine like this, only a little more rich with molasses, is 
very god for salting tongues, and pieces that are to be smoked. 
But they should lie in it four or five weeks. Meat should 
never be salted for smoking, later than February or the middle 
of March. 

In warm weather, it will not do to use the same brine more 
than once, as the blood from the meat will become tainted. 
Therefore a less expensive mixture, that may be thrown away 
after being used once, is better. Two quarts of salt to four of 
water, is a good rule for brine in hot weather. 

In the summer, the strong membrane that covers the rib 
bones, must be cut open with a sharp knife before the meat is 


164 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


put into brine; for, as the salt “will not penetrate this mem- 
brane, the bones will else become tainted, and the meat soon be 
spoiled. Meat, at this season, should be cooked within three or 
four days after being put into brine. 


To Salt Pork. 

Allow a bushel of salt for a barrel of pork, or a peck for fifty 
weight. The salt called coarse-fine, is commonly used by 
butchers ; but the best way in a private family, where no more 
than twenty-five or fifty weight is put down for the year’s use, 
is to use fine salt. Put water enough to cover it. Examine it 
in a few days, and if the salt is all dissolved, add. more. The 
only sure way of keeping pork sweet, is to have the brine so 
strong that some of the salt remains undissolved. A board, 
with a.stone upon it, should always be kept on the top of pork, 
as it will soon become rusty if the edges lie above the surface 
of the brine. . 

It is not fit for use, until it has been in brine six weeks. 


Pickle for one Ham. 

To a gallon of water, put a pint of salt, a pint of molasses, 
and an ounce of saltpetre. Turn the ham over in the brine 
often, and let it lie in it six weeks ; then let it be smoked nearly 
as long. 


To Cure Hams. 

[This receipt is furnished by a person whose hams are cele- 
brated in the eastern part of Massachusetts, for their superior 
quality. | 

For curing fifty weight, allow three quarts of coarse salt, half 
a pound of saltpetre, and two quarts of good molasses. ‘Add 
soft water enough just to cover the hams. Common sized hams 
should be kept in this pickle five weeks; larger ones six. 
They should all be taken out once a week, and those which 
were on the top laid in first, and the lower ones last. ‘They 
should be smoked from two to three weeks with walnut wood or 





KNICKERBOCKER PICKLE-——TO MAKE SAUSAGES 165 


with sawdust and corn-cobs, mixed. Meat smoked with cobs is 
very delicate. 

Pieces of beef for smoking, may be laid in this pickle, after 
the hams are sent to the smoke house; but more salt should be 
added. 


The Knickerbocker Pickle. 

To three gallons of soft water, put four pounds and a half of 
salt, coarse and fine, mixed; a pound and a half of brown sugar, 
an ounce and a half of saltpetre, half an ounce of saleratus, and 
two quarts of good molasses. 

Boil the mixture, skim it well, and when cold pour it over 
the hams or beef. Beef laid down in this pickle, does not be- 
come hard, and is very fine, when boiled gently and long. 

Some persons consider this the best of all methods for curing 
beef and hams. 


How to keep Hams through the Summer. 

When they are taken from the smoke house, do not suffer 
them to lie a single hour where the flies can find them. Sew 
them up in a coarse cloth or stiff brown paper, and pack them 
in ashes. ‘There is no method so sure to preserve them from 
insects, and the effect of the ashes is to improve the meat; but 
care should be taken that the hams are so secured that the ashes 
will not touch them. The ashes should be perfectly cold and 
dry, and the barrel be in a dry, cool place. 


To make Sausages. 

A common fault is, that the meat is not chopped enough. It 
should be chopped very fine, and this is most easily done if it is 
a little frozen. When ready for the seasoning, put in just cold 
water enough to enable you to mix the ingredients equally ; 
but be careful not to use more than is necessary for this pur- 
pose. 

The following excellent rule for seasoning sausages is fur- 
nished by the same person whose receipt for curing hams I 
have been allowed to copy. 


166 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


To twelve pounds and a half of meat put a gill of fine salt, a 
large gill of powdered sage, and half a gill of ground pepper 
Let the measures be exact. 

Some persons find it most convenient to keep sausage meat 
in acloth. It is done by making a long bag of strong cotton 
cloth, of such a size that, when filled, it will be as large round 
as acommon half pint mug. It should be crowded full, and 
each end tied up. If you have not a sausage-filler, it can be 
filled with the hand. Sew up only a quarter of a yard, then fill 
it tight, so far; then sew another quarter, and fill it, and so on 
until yourreach the end. When the meat is to be used, open 
one end, rip up the seam a little way, and cut off slices rather 
more than an inch thick, and fry them. It may be kept good 
from December to March, in a cold, dry place. 


How to salt Shad to keep a Year. 

Procure those which are just caught; soak them an hour or 
two in a plenty of water, in order that the scales may be easily 
taken off. Take care to remove them all. Cut off the heads 
and open them down the back. When you have taken out all 
the refuse parts, remove the greatest part of the spine, as the 
fish will be more sure to keep sweet. A sharp knife is indis- 
pensable. Lay them in fresh water with a good deal of salt in 
it for an hour or two, in order to extract the blood. Then take 
them out, and sprinkle them plentifully with fine salt, taking 
care that it touches all the ends and edges. If most convenient, 
let them lie over night. In the morning, mingle an ounce of 
saltpetre and a pound of sugar with a peck of coarse-fine salt, 
and put a layer of salt, and a layer of fish (the skin being down), 
into the firkin. A peck of salt will cure twenty-five shad. 


To try Lard. 

The fat should not be suffered to stand long without being 
tried, because, even in cold weather, some parts of it may soon 
become musty, and nothing can then restore its sweetness. Re- 
move all the lean bits, as they will adhere to the kettle, and 











TOMATOES — STEWED, BAKED. 167 


cause the fat to burn. Cut it into pieces a little more than an 
inch square, and take care to have them nearly of a size. Put 
a little water into the kettle, and keep a steady, good fire, with- 
out much blaze, and stir the fat often. Attention to the kettle 
and the fire will be necessary, through the process. It will re- 
quire three hours todo it. When the fat no longer bubbles, but 
is still, it is done enough. It is best to squeeze it through a tow 
cloth bag, made by folding half a square in such a way that 
the corner will form the end, and it should be rounded off a lit- 
tle at the bottom, and the seam made exactly as directed for a 
pudding-bag. ‘Two pieces of wood fastened together, somewhat 
like a lemon-squeezer, will facilitate the process of straining it. 
Strain all that flows off without much pressure into one jar, and 
that which is extracted last, into another. There is no advan- 
tage in putting salt into lard. It does not mingle with it, as 
appears by its being always found at the bottom of the kettle, 
undissolved. Stone jars are best for keeping lard, but potter’s 
ware does very well. It should stand in a cold place, and in 
- warm weather, a fire-place with a close board, in a cool room, is 
a very good place to keep it. 

Scraps are a favorite dish with many persons. Put salt, pep- 
per, and pulverized sage to them, while they are still warm, 
break them small, and stir them well that the seasoning may be 
equally distributed. 


TOMATOES. 


Stewed. 

Scald them in order to remove the skins. Cut them up 
and put them into a saucepan, with a little salt, a bit of butter, 
and some fine crumbs of bread or pounded cracker. Let them 
stew gently an hour; if you like them sweet, add sugar ten 
minutes before serving. 


Baked. 


Butter a dish, and when you have skinned the tomatoes lay 


168 =. THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


them in it, whole. Sprinkle salt and sugar over them, and then 
fine crumbs of bread or pounded cracker. Bake them forty 
minutes in a dish in which they may be put upon the table. 
When they are half baked dip the syrup over the top, so as to 
moisten the crumbs. 


Broiled. 

Cut them in two without skinning, and lay them upon the 
gridiron. They will not break, and will require six or seven 
minutes to cook through. Turn them, and when laid.in the 
dish, add salt and butter, and also pepper if you prefer. 


Like Cucumbers. 

Take fair fruit. The small kind, called love-apples, are the 
best for this use. Take off the skins, slice them, sprinkle salt 
over them, add vinegar (rather less than for cucumbers), and 
put on pepper. 


Preserved. 

Having skinned them, weigh equal quantities of fruit and 
sugar. Let the tomatoes lie upon a hair sieve a little while in 
order that some of the juice may drain out. Then lay them 
carefully, so as not to spoil the shape, into a stone jar, in alter- 
nate layers with the sugar. Allow one lemon for every four 
pounds of fruit, and lay slices of lemon between each layer of 
fruit. Cover the jar close, and set it in a kettle of cold water, 
where it will boil moderately, but constantly, many hours — all 
day if possible. See that the water comes up high enough 
around the jar, and also that none of it boils into the top. When 
it is boiled enough, let the jar stand until the water has in a 
measure cooled, as it may be broken by being taken at once out 
of boiling water. 


Figs. 
Choose smooth-shaped tomatoes, and to sixteen pounds allow 
six pounds of sugar. Scald and remove the skins in the usual 








TOMATOES — PICKLE, STEWED. 169 


way; put the sugar to them, and boil until penetrated with it ; 
then take them out, spread them on dishes, flatten and dry them 
in the sun. A small quantity of sugar should be sprinkled over 
them occasionally while drying. When perfectly dry, pack 
them in boxes, sprinkling each layer with powdered sugar. 


Pickle (an excellent Condiment). 

Put eight pounds of skinned tomatoes, and four of brown 
sugar, into a preserving kettle. Stir often and see they do not 
burn. Boil them to the consistency of molasses, then add a 
quart of sharp cider-vinegar, a teaspoonful of mace, another of 
cinnamon, and half a teaspoonful of clove, and boil five minutes 
longer. 


Stewed Tomato (to keep the year round). 

Skin and cut up the fruit, and boil it gently two hours in a 
porcelain kettle ; add nothing to it but a little salt. Have ready 
enough clean bottles to contain the quantity to be stewed. Olive 
bottles are very convenient for the purpose, but common junk 
bottles are also good. Provide a tunnel, good corks, a coarse 
towel, a hammer, and a tin dish containing equal parts of rosin 
and shoemaker’s wax. After two hours’ boiling, set the kettle 
off; have the bottles ready warmed by standing near the fire so 
that heat will not crack them, put hot water into three or four at 
a time, shake it about, and drain it out; then fill the bottles 
with the hot tomato nearly far enough to meet the cork. If it 
does not readily go through the tunnel, push it down with a 
stick or skewer. When you have filled these, put in the corks 
and hammer them down; take the coarse towel to protect your 
hands from the heat, and dip the mouth of the bottle into the 
melted sealing-wax. See that the cork is entirely covered by it. 
Set these aside and do the rest in the same way. This is a con- 
venient way for those who do not own the cans now so much 
used ; and tomatoes put up thus, are as good months afterwards 
as if the fruit was just gathered. None but fresh and sound 
ones should be used. Set the bottles in a cool, dry place. 

15 


170 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Catsup. 

Slice the tomatoes and sprinkle them with salt. Ifyou in- 
tend to let them stand until you have gathered several parcels, 
put in plenty of salt. After you have gathered all you intend 
to use, boil them gently an hour, strain them through a coarse 
sieve; slice two good-sized onions very thin for every gallon ; 
add half a spoonful of ginger, two spoonfuls of powdered clove, 
two of allspice, and a teaspoonful of black pepper. Boil it 
twenty minutes after the spices are added. Keep it in a covered 
jar. | 
This kind of catsup is specially designed to be used in soups, 
and stewed meats. 


Another Catsup (retaining the color and flavor of the Fruit). 

Skin and slice the tomatoes, and boil them an hour and a half. 
Then put to one gallon not strained, a quarter of an ounce of 
mace, the same of nutmegs and cloves, one handful of horserad- 
ish, two pods of red pepper, or a large teaspoonful of cayenne, 
and salt as you like it. Boil it away to three quarts, and then 
add a pint of wine and half a pint of vinegar. Bottle it, and 
leave the bottles open two or three days; then cork it tight. 
Make this catsup once, and you will wish to make it every year. 


Pickled. 


Wash green tomatoes, and slice them rather thin; weigh 
them, and allow three or four sliced onions, four pounds of 
sugar, and a gallon of cider-vinegar to eight pounds of tomatoes. 
Put the vinegar to boil in a porcelain kettle with the sugar, 
stir it, and when it boils up, set it off, and let it stand a few 
minutes until you can remove the scum without wasting the 
vinegar ; then add the onions, two teaspoonfuls of salt, a table- 
spoonful each of powdered cinnamon and clove, and a grated 
nutmeg; then set it upon the fire and immediately add the 
tomatoes. When the vinegar begins to simmer press the toma- 
toes gently down. Let them boil only two or three minutes. 
Put them into covered jars; or, when cool enough: into wide- 








ON COOKING VEGETABLES. 171 


mouthed bottles. When the pickles are all used, the vinegar 
need not be lost, as it is excellent upon baked beans, and cold 
salt meat, or in mince pies. 


ON COOKING VEGETABLES. 


Arter being well washed, they should be laid in water, ex- 
cepting corn and peas, which should be husked and shelled with 
clean hands, and not washed, as some of the sweetness is thereby 
extracted. Put all kinds, except peas and beans, into boiling 
water, with a little salt in it. Hard water spoils peas, and is 
not good for any vegetables ; a very little saleratus or soda will 
rectify it. Peas are much best when first gathered, and they 
should not be shelled long before boiling. If they are old, a 
salt-spoon of soda in the water will make them tender. Aspar- 
_ agus should not be cut so far below the surface of the ground as 
it usually is for market; the white end never boils tender. 
Sweet potatoes require a third longer time to cook than the 
common ones. 

Greens, lettuce, and cucumbers should be gathered before the 
dew is off in the morning, and put into fresh water. All these, 
with peas, beans, and asparagus, are unhealthful after they are 
withered. 


To Boil Potatoes. 

The best potatoes are good boiled without paring, but even 
they, are best pared; and poor potatoes are unfit to eat, boiled 
with the skins on. New potatoes are made watery by being 
laid in water, but late in the winter and in the spring they should 
be pared and laid in cold water an hour or two before they are 
cooked. Put them into boiling water, with salt in it, and allow 
thirty or forty minutes for boiling, according to the size. When 
they are done through, pour off the water, and take the kettle 


172 © THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


to the door or window, and shake them. Doing this in the 
open air makes them mealy; return them to the fire a minute 
or two, and then serve. Many persons take a fork and break 
them up in the kettle, before taking them up, and they make a 
beautiful looking dish done in this way. 

Potatoes require nearly an hour to bake in a cooking stove 
or range. 


Mashed Potatoes. . 

Boil them according to the directions in the preceding receipt, 
allowing twenty minutes more time before dinner, than if they 
were to be put on the table whole. When they are dried, set 
off the kettle and mash them in it with a wooden pestle. This is 
better than to'take them into a pan, as they will keep hot in the 
kettle. Have ready a gill or two of hot milk or cream; if you 
use milk, put a small piece of butter into it. Sprinkle salt into 
the potato and mash it till it is perfectly fine; then pour in the 
hot milk and mix it thoroughly. ‘The more it is wrought with 
the pestle, the whiter it becomes. Put it into the dish for the 
table, smooth the top into proper shape, and set it into the stove 
to brown. To prepare it in the nicest manner, beat the yolk of 
an egg and spread over the top before putting it into the 
stove. If you do not care to take all this trouble, it is very 
good without being browned. 


Potatoe Balls. 

Mash boiled potatoes fine, stir into them the yolk of an egg, 
and make them into balls ; then dip them into a beaten egg, roll 
them in cracker crumbs, and brown them in a quick oven; or, 
fry them in a small quantity of nice drippings, and in that case 


flatten them so that they can be easily turned, and browned 
both sides. 


Old Potatoes. 
When potatoes are poor, as they often are in the spring, 
pare, soak, and boil them as directed in the first receipt. Then 








TO FRY POTATOES — MASHED TURNIPS. 173 


take two together in a coarse cloth, squeeze and wring them. 
You can, with care, turn them into the dish in shape ; but if not, 
it is no matter. The broken pieces will still be far better than 
before, for they will be dry and mealy. Keep a cloth for the 
purpose. 


To Fry Potatoes. 

Pare and slice them thin, and if you have the drippings of a 
baked ham in which to fry them, it will give them a much bet- 
ter relish than butter or beef drippings. Cold boiled potatoes, 
if fried, should be sliced thicker than raw ones. ‘The latter 
require much more time to cook than the others. Sprinkle 
them with salt while frying. 


Potatoes Heated in Milk. 3 

To make a very good dish for breakfast, cut cold potatoes 
quite. small, and put them into a saucepan or spider, with milk 
enough almost, but not entirely, to cover them. When the 
milk becomes hot, stir and mash the potatoes with a large spoon 
until there are no lumps. Add salt, and a small bit of butter, 
stir it often, until it is as dry as you wish to have it. Itisa 
nicer dish, when prepared with so much milk that a good deal 
of stirring is necessary to make it dry, than if done in but a 
small quantity. 


Sweet Potatoes. 

They are best baked; are very nice boiled till tender, and 
then pared and laid into the oven to brown. They require 
more time for being cooked, than the common potatoe. Cold 
sweet potatoes are excellent sliced and browned on the grid- 
dle. When one side is done, sprinkle salt over before turn- 
ing them. 


Mashed Turnips. 

Boil them in salt and water, at least an hour and a half, un- 
less they are of early growth. Take them from the kettle into 
| 15* 


174 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


a deep dish, press them a little and pour off the water; mash 
them like potatoes, but use no milk, as they are moist enough. 
Add salt and a little butter. 

It is a very nice way to put an equal number of potatoes and 
turnips together, and mash them until they are thoroughly mixed. 
This is a favorite dish among the Dutch in the State of New 
York. 


Shelled Beans. 

Put them into cold soft water, just enough to cover them. 
Boil them from an hour to an hour and a quarter. Some kinds 
are more easily boiled than others. Do not put in salt until 
they are nearly done, as its tendency is to make them hard. 
Take them up with a skimmer and butter them. 


String Beans. 

Beans should never be used in this way after the pod has 
become old enough to have a. string, or tough fibre upon it. 
Cut off each end, and cut them up small. Boil them in as 
little water as will keep them from burning. Just before you 
take them up, add salt and butter, and dredge in a little flour. 
They should have only as much liquor in them as you wish to 
take up in the dish, else the sweetness is wasted. String beans 
and peas are good boiled together. 


Peas. 

If peas are young and fresh (and none others are good), 
they will boil in half an hour or thirty-five minutes. They 
should be put into cold water, without salt. The same quan- 
tity should be used as for string beans, and for the same 
reason. When they are tender, add salt and butter. It is an 
improvement to boil a single small slice of pork in them. It 
need not be laid into the dish, and the same slice will do for an- 
other boiling. 








ASPARAGUS — MUSHROOMS — SALAD. 175 


Asparagus. 

Wash it, trim off the white ends, and tie it up in bunches 
with a twine or a strip of old cotton. ‘Throw them into boiling 
water with salt in it. Boil twenty-five minutes or half an hour. 
Have ready two or three slices of toasted bread, dip them in the 
water and lay them in the dish. Spread them with butter and 
lay the bunches of asparagus upon the toast. Cut the strings 
with a scissors and draw them out without breaking the stalks ; 
lay thin shavings of butter over the asparagus, and send it to 
the table. 


Asparagus and Eggs. 

Take cold asparagus, and cut it the size of peas; break four 
or five eggs into a dish, and beat them with pepper, salt, and 
the asparagus. Then put it into a stew-pan with a spoonful of 
butter, set it on the fire, and stir it all the time till it thickens. 
Put it upon toasted bread in a hot dish. 


Mushrooms. 

Choose such as are young, having red gills; cut off the 
part of the stalk which grew in the earth; wash them, remove 
the skin from the top, stew them with some salt in a little water, 
and when tender add butter, into which you have rubbed 
browned flour. They are good fried on a griddle. 


Salad. 

Gather lettuce and pepper-grass early, before the dew has 
evaporated; pick them over, and lay them in cold water. If 
the weather is very warm, change the water before dinner- 
time, and add ice. Just before it is served, cut it small, and 
prepare the dressing in the following manner. Boil three eggs 
twelve minutes, and throw them into cold water; remove the 
shell, and take out the yolks; mash them fine in a spoonful of 
water and two of oil; add salt, powdered sugar, made mustard 
and vinegar ; pour the mixture over the salad, cut the whites of 
the eggs in rings and garnish the top. 


176 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Cucumbers. 

Cucumbers: should be gathered while dew is yet on them, 
and put immediately into water. Half an hour before dinner, 
pare and slice them very thin, and let them lie in fresh water 
till dinner is ready; then drain them, lay them into a dish, 
sprinkle them with salt, pour on the vinegar, and add the pep- 
per last. 


Macaroni. 

Procure that which looks white and clean. When it is to be 
used, examine it carefully, as there are sometimes little insects 
inside. Wash it, and put it in a stew-pan in cold water enough 
almost to cover it. Add a little salt. Let it boil slowly half an 
hour; then add a gill of milk and a small piece of butter, and 
boil it a quarter of an hour more. ‘Then put it into the dish in 
which it is to go to the table, grate old cheese over it, and heat 
a shovel red-hot and hold over the top to brown it. It may be 
browned in a stove, but if the dish would be injured by it, the 
better way is to use the shovel. 


Parsnips 

Those that have remained in the ground till March, are usu- 
ally very nice. Boil them three quarters of an hour, and cook 
enough for two days. Scrape the outside, split them, and lay 
them on a dish with a little butter, salt, and pepper. ‘Take 
those that are left the next day, and lay them on a hot griddle 
or spider, with a little butter, ham fat, or nice drippings, and 
brown them. These are better than on the first day. They 
will brown well when first boiled, but not so quickly. 


Carrots. 

These are not considered by most people very good; but 
they are so in broth and soup. To eat with meat they should 
be boiled three quarters of an hour, if fresh from the garden ; 
in the winter, an hour and a half. They make very good pies 





e 2 
a ae ee SS ee 





BEETS — SALSIFY — SQUASH. 177 


after the fashion of pumpkin or squash; but they must be boiled 
very tender, and in a good deal of water, else a strong taste 
will pervade the pies. 


Beets. 

When they are washed the little fibres and ragged excres- 
cences should not be broken off, as the juices of the root will 
thus be lost. Young beets boil in an hour; but in the winter 
they require from two to three hours. When tender, put them 
for a minute or two into cold water, take them in your hands 
and slip the skins off. ‘This is a much easier and better way 
than to remove the skin with a knife. Lay them into a dish, 
cut them several times through, sprinkle them with salt and 
pepper, add a little butter, and, if you choose, vinegar also. It 
is a very good way to cut up all that remain after dinner, put on 
salt and vinegar, and set them aside to be used cold another day. 


Salsify, or Oyster Plant. 

Wash and scrape it very thoroughly, and put it in boiling 
water-with salt in it. When tender, cut it in slices and fry it 
in hot fat, in a batter made of an egg, milk, flour, and salt. It 
is very nice, also, dipped in bread-crumbs moistened with a 
beaten egg, and browned on a griddle. 


Summer Squash. 

If the rind is tender, boil it whole, in a little bag kept for the 
purpose. It should be put into boiling water; three quarters of 
an hour is long enough to cook it. Take the bag into a pan 
and press it with the edge of a plate or with a ladle, until the 
. water is out; then turn the squash out into a dish, add salt and 
butter, and smooth over the top. 


Winter Squash. 

Cut it up and take out the inside. Pare the pieces, and stew 
them in as little water as possible. If you have a tin with holes 
in it, which will fit the kettle and keep the squash from 


178 CC. THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


touching the water, it is the nicest way to steam it. Be 
careful it does not burn. It will cook in an hour. Mash it 
in a dish, or, if it is watery, squeeze it in a coarse cloth like 
summer squash. Stir in butter and salt. Lay it into the dish, 
smooth the top, and, if you like, pepper it. 


Onions. 

Boil them twenty minutes, and pour off the water entirely ; 
then put in equal parts of hot water and milk, or skimmed milk 
alone, and boil them twenty minutes more. When they are 
done through, take them up with a skimmer, let them drain a 
little, and lay them into the dish. Put on butter, pepper, and 
salt. 


Spinage. 

Put it into a net, or a bag of coarse muslin, kept for the pur- 
pose, and boil it in a plenty of water with salt in it, ten or 
twelve minutes. All kinds of greens should be boiled in plenty 
of water, else they will be bitter. 

One method of serving spinage is, to press it between two 
plates, then put it into a saucepan with a small bit of butter, 
salt, and a little cream, and boil it up. Another is to drain it 
thoroughly, lay it in the dish, put upon the top hard boiled eggs, 
sliced, and pour melted butter over it. 


Greens. 

Cabbage plants, turnip or mustard tops, the roots and tops of 
young beets, cowslips, dandelions, and various other things, 
make a good dish in the spring. When boiled enough, they 
will sink to the bottom of the kettle. Some require an hour, 
and others less time. Turnip-tops will be boiled enough in 
twenty minutes. Remember to put salt into the water unless 
you boil a piece of pork with them. 


Cabbage. 
Remove the waste leaves, and divide the stump end as far as 





. 
| 
} 
; 





CAULIFLOWERS —EGG PLANT, ETC. 179 


the centre of the cabbage. It is good boiled with salt meat; 
but if cooked by itself, salt should be added to the water. Cab- 
bage should be put into boiling water, be well skimmed, and 
boil an hour or hour and a half, according to the size. 


Cauliflowers. 

Lay them an hour or two in cold salt and water; remove 
the outside leaves and boil them half an hour in milk and 
water. If they are strong, pour off the water when they are 
half done, and put fresh boiling water to them. Brocoli is 
cooked in the same manner, and should be laid on toast exactly 
like asparagus. 


Egg Plant. 


Take fresh purple ones, and pull out the stem; parboil them 
and cut them in slices about an inch thick. Dip them in a 
beaten egg, and then in a plate of bread or cracker crumbs, with 
salt and pepper, and fry them in drippings until they are nicely 
browned. 


Boiled Corn. 
Put the ears into boiling water, with salt in it, and boil them 
half an hour. 


Corn Soup. 

Cut the corn off the cob, and boil the cobs half an hour in the 
water; then take them out, put in the corn and boil it twenty 
minutes or half an hour. If there is a quart of the corn and 
water, add a pint of new milk, with salt, pepper, and one or two 
beaten eggs. Continue the boiling a few minutes, and thicken 
it a little with flour. 


Succotash. 

Cut off the corn from the cobs, and, an hour and a half be- 
fore dinner, put the cobs, with a few shelled beans, into cold 
water to boil. After one hour take out the cobs, put in the 


* 


180 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


corn and boil it half an hour. There should be no more water 
than will be necessary to make the succotash of the right thick- 
_ ness; as having too much occasions a loss of the richness im- 
parted by the cobs. When you take it up, add a small piece of 
butter. This is much better than to boil the corn on the cob 
and then cut it off. 

It is a very good way, when a family are tired of fresh meat 
in hot weather, to boil a piece of pork in another pot until the 
grossest fat has boiled out, and then put it with the succotash 
for the remainder of the time. It gives a very good flavor to 
the corn, and makes an excellent dinner. 


Corn Oysters. 

Grate young, sweet corn into a dish, and to a pint add one 
ege, well beaten, a small teacup of flour, half a gill of cream, 
and a teaspoonful of salt. Mix it well together. Fry it exactly 
like oysters, dropping it into the fat by spoonfuls about the size 
of an oyster. | 


PICKLES. 


Picxies should never be kept in potter’s ware, as arsenic 
and other poisonous substances are used in the glazing; and 
this is sometimes decomposed by vinegar. Whole families have 
been poisoned in this way ; and where fatal effects do not follow, 
a deleterious influence may be operating upon the health, from 
this cause, when it is not suspected. Pickles should be made 
with cider vinegar. 


Cucumbers, 

Wash and drain them in a sieve, but take care not to break 
the little prickles upon them, as the effect will be to make them 
soft. Lay them in a jar, pour boiling vinegar upon them and 











PICKLES — MANGOES, PEACHES. 181 


cover them close. The next time you gather any, take those 
from the jar, and put them into that in which they are to be 
kept, in fresh vinegar having a very little salt in it, and a 
small bag of spices. ‘Take the vinegar from the first jar, boil it 
again, pour it upon the fresh cucumbers, and transfer them like 
the first to the larger jar, the next time you have a new quan- 
tity to boil. When you have gathered all you wish for, put a 
brass or bell-metal kettle * over the fire, with the vinegar in it 
which you have so often boiled, and add a little more to it, — 
no matter if it is not sharp. Lay in your pickles and scald 
them a few minutes. Take them out with a large skimmer, 
draining them, and lay them back into the jar of spiced vinegar. 
Look at them occasionally ; they may need a little more vinegar. 
Keep them covered close. 3 


Mangoes. 


Select small musk-melons (the common kind are much better 
for this purpose than cantelopes) ; cut an oval piece out of one 
‘ side. You must have a sharp knife, and be careful to make a 
smooth incision. Take out the seeds with a teaspoon. Fill the 
melons with a stuffing made of cloves, mustard-seed, pepper- 
corns, scrapings of horseradish, and chopped onion if you like 
it. Sew on the piece with a needle and coarse thread, or bind 
a strip of old cotton around each one and sew it. Lay them in 
a jar, and pour boiling vinegar on them with a little salt in it. 
Do it two or three times, then lay them in fresh vinegar and 
cover them close. 


Peaches. 

Select peaches that are ripe, yet not quite soft enough to eat; 
push a clove into each one at the end opposite the stem. Put 
two pounds of brown sugar to a gallon of vinegar, and boil it 





* A kettle lined with porcelain is better than any other for cooking acids. 
Brass or bell-metal should be thoroughly scoured immediately before it is 
used for these purposes. 


16 


182 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


up; skim off the top, boil it up once more, and pour it, hot, upon 


the peaches. Cover them close. 

It may be necessary to scald the vinegar again in a week or 
two; after that, they will keep any length of time. They retain 
much of the flavor of a fresh peach. 


Nasturtiums. 

Gather the seeds while green, let them lie a few days, then 
throw them into vinegar. They need no spice except a little 
salt, being themselves sufficiently spicy. Boil the vinegar and 
pour on them. ‘They are considered by many persons better 
than capers, and are much like them. They should be kept six 
months, covered close, before they are used. 


Eggs. 


Boil them twelve minutes, and throw them immediately into 
cold water, which will cause the shell to come off easily. Boil 
some red beets till very soft, peel and mash them fine, and put 
them into cold vinegar enough to cover the eggs; add salt, pep- 
per, cloves, and nutmeg. Put the eggs into a jar and pour the 
mixture over them. 


Peppers. 

Take fresh, hard peppers, soak them in salt and water nine 
days, changing the brine each day. Let them stand in a 
warm place. Then put them into cold vinegar. If you wish 
them very hot, leave in the seeds. If not, take out the seeds 
of the greatest part of them. If peppers are put into the 
same jar with cucumbers, the entire strength of them will go 
into the cucumbers, and they themselves will become nearly 
tasteless. Half a dozen peppers will improve a jar of cucum- 
bers. 


Butternuts. 

Gather them between the twenty-fifth and thirtieth of June. 
Make a brine of boiled salt and water, strong enough to bear 
up an egg after it is cold. Skim it while it boils. Pour it 





a ee Re 








PICKLES — MARTINIAS, TOMATOES, ETC. 183 


on the nuts, and let them lie in it twelve days. Then drain 
them ; lay them in a jar, and pour over them the best of cider 
vinegar, boiled with pepper-corns, cloves, allspice, mustard, 
ginger, mace, and horseradish. This should be ceoled before it 
is poured on. Cover close, and keep them a year before us- 
ing them. Walnuts are done in the same way. The vinegar 
becomes an excellent catsup, by many persons preferred to any 
other. 


Martinias. 

Gather them when they are rather small, and so tender that 
you can run the head of a pin into them. Wipe off the down 
and put them into a cold, weak brine. Keep them in brine nine 
days, changing it every other day. Make a pickle of vinegar, 
allspice, cloves, mace, nutmegs, and cirnamon. Take the martin- 
jas out of the brine, wipe them, and lay them into a stone jar; 
pour the mixture of vinegar and spice, boiling hot, over them; 
cover them close, and let them stand one month, and they will 
be fit for use. ‘There can be no finer pickle than this, and the 
plant is so prolific, that half a dozen seeds will produce enough 
to fill a large jar. 


Tomatoes. 
See page 170. 


Plums, Peaches, Cherries, or Tomatoes. 

Four quarts of cider vinegar, five pounds of sugar, a quarter 
of a pound of cinnamon, and two ounces of clove, to seven 
pounds of fruit. Scald the vinegar and sugar together, and 
take off the scum; add the spices and boil it up again, and pour 
it immediately upon the fruit. Scald the vinegar twice more 
at intervals of three or four days, and cover the jar close after it 
is poured in. 

A less expensive way is found to be very good. Put four 
pounds of sugar to eight of fruit, half the quantity of spice, a 
spoonful of salt, and one also of powdered allspice. 


184 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


THA, COFFEEBR, CHOCOLATE, COCOA, ETC. 


Tea, 

SEE that the water boils. Scald the pot, and put in a tea- 
spoonful for each person. Upon green tea, pour a little water, 
and allow it to stand two or three minutes where it will keep 
hot; then fill the pot from the teakettle. Green tea should 
never be boiled, and it is rendered dead by being steeped 
long. 

Of black tea the same measure is used; the pot being filled 
up at first, and set immediately upon the stove, just long enough 
to boil up once. Water should be added to the teapot from the 
teakettle; never from the water pot, as in that case it cannot 
be boiling hot. Black and green tea are good mixed. If tea 
is made from a boiling urn at the table, which is, on several 
accounts, a very good practice, make black tea in the same way 
as green. 


To roast Coffee. 

As this must be done well in order to have good coffee, direc- 
tions for it may not be amiss. There are often little stones in 
coffee, of the same color with it; therefore, pick it over care- 
fully. If you have no coffee-roaster, put it into a round-bot- 
tomed, iron kettle, and let it be where it will be hot an hour or 
two without burning; then put it where it will brown, and stir 
it constantly until it is done. If it is left half a minute, the 
kernels next to the kettle may be burnt black, and this is 
enough to injure all the rest. It should be a dark, rich brown, 
but not black. Before taking it up, stir in a piece of butter the 
size of a small nut. ‘Put it, while steaming hot, into a box with 
a close cover. 

Tn a small family, not more than two pounds should be roasted 
at once, as it loses its freshness by being roasted long before 
use. For the same reason it should be ground as it is wanted. 
The practice of grinding up a quantity for two or three weeks, 





Pe ee ee ee 





COFFEE— CHOCOLATE. 185 


is a poor one. The best kinds are the Java and the Mocha, 
and it is considered an improvement to mix the two. West 
India coffee, though of a different flavor, is often very good. 


To make Coffee. 

Put a coffee-cup full into a pot that will hold three pints of 
water; add the white of an egg, or a few shavings of isinglass, 
or a well cleansed and dried bit of fish-skin of the size of a 
ninepence. Pour upon it boiling water and boil it ten minutes. 
Then pour out a little from the spout, in order to remove the 
grains that may have boiled into it, and pour it back into the 
pot. Let it stand eight or ten minutes where it will keep hot, 
but not boil; boiling coffee a great while makes it strong, but 
not so lively or agreeable. If you have no cream, boil a sauce- 
pan of milk, and after pouring it into the pitcher, stir it now 
and then till the breakfast is ready, that the cream may not 
separate from the milk. 

If you use a coffee-biggin, let the coffee be ground very fine 
and packed tight in the strainer; pour on boiling water, stop 
the spout of the pot, shut the lid close, and place it upon a 
heater kept for the purpose. This is made at the table. 


Coffee Milk. 

Put a dessert spoonful of ground coffee into a pint of milk ; 
boil it a quarter of an hour with a shaving or two of isinglass ; 
then let it stand ten minutes and pour it off. 


Chocolate. 


For those who use a great deal of chocolate, the following is 
an economical method. Cut a cake into small bits and put 
them into a pint of boiling water. In a few minutes set it off 
the fire and stir it well till the chocolate is dissolved; then boil 
it again gently a few minutes, pour it into a bowl, and set it in 
a cool place. It will keep good eight or ten days. For use, 
boil a spoonful or two in a pint of milk, with sugar. 

16 *. 


186 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Another. 

Shave fine an inch wide across a cake of chocolate ; pour on 
it a quart of boiling water; boil it twenty minutes; add milk in 
such proportion as you like, and boil it up again. 


Cocoa. 

The cracked cocoa is considered the best. Two large spoon- 
fuls put into three pints of cold water, and boiled from one to 
two hours, is a good rule to make it for four or five persons. It 
should be boiled over several times, as it is very strong. Boil 
milk for it by itself. 


To make the ground Cocoa. 

Boil two large spoonfuls in a quart of water half an fears 
skim off the oil, pour in three gills of milk, and boil it up again. 
It is the best way to make it the day before it is used, as the 
oily substance can be more perfectly removed when the cocoa is 
cold. 


Shells. 

Put a heaping teacupful to a quart of boiling water. Boil 
them a great while. Half an hour will do, but two or three 
hours is far better. Scald milk as for coffee. If there is not 
time to boil shells long enough before breakfast, it is well to put 
them into the water over night. 


Syrup of Cream. 

To a pint of fresh cream, put a pound and a quarter of loaf 
sugar; boil it in an earthen pot or saucepan; pour it into a 
jar or basin, and let it stand till it is cold; then put it into 
phials and cork close. It will keep good for several weeks, and 
is convenient to carry to sea. 


To raise a Thick Cream. 

Put new milk into an earthen pan, and set it ona 1 stove, or 
over clear embers till it is quite hot. Then set it aside till the 
next day, and it will produce excellent cream for coffee or fruit. 








CONVENIENT COMMON DISHES. 187 


CONVENIENT COMMON DISHES, AND 
WAYS OF USING REMNANTS. 


Baked Pork and Beans. 

For a family of six or seven, take a quart of white beans, 
wash them in several waters, and put them into two or three 
quarts over night. In the morning (when it will be easier to 
cull out the bad ones, than before they were soaked), pick them 
over, and boil them until they begin to crack open; then put 
them into a brown pan, such as are made for the purpose. Pour 
upon them enough of the water they were boiled in almost to 
cover them. Cut the rind of about a pound of salt pork into 
narrow strips; lay it on the top of the beans, and press it down 
so that it will lie more than half its thickness in the water. 
Bake several hours; four or five is not too much. Where a 
brick oven is used, it is well to let beans remain in it over night. 
If they are baked in a stove, or range, more water may be 
necessary, before they are done. 

Many persons think it a decided improvement to put in a 
large spoonful or two of molasses. It is a very good way. 

Those who object to the use of pork, can have a very good 
dish of beans, by substituting two table-spoonfuls of nice beef- 
drippings, and adding two teaspoonfuls of salt. 

To heat over baked beans, put them in a spider with a little 
water; heat them slowly at first, and cover close. If they are 
too moist, remove the cover and stir them often. 


Salt meat and Vegetables, boiled together. 

Put in the beef first, and allow twenty-five minutes or half 
an hour for every pound. Skim the water when it begins to 
simmer. An hour and a half before the dinner-hour, put in the 
pork, well scraped and washed, and again skim off the froth. 
Wash the vegetables with special care, and allow for boiling 
turnips, carrots, and cabbage, an hour, or an hour and a quarter ; 


188 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


for parsnips three quarters, and for potatoes, half an hour. If 
the potatoes are not pared, a small piece of the skin should be 
- cut off from each end. When the dinner is served, the pot 
should be set away in a cool place, and the fat taken from the 
top the next day, and put aside for soap grease. It will not be 
good for any other use, as it will have the flavor of the vege- 
tables. 


Remnants of Roast Beef. 

Take off with a sharp knife all the meat from the bones. If 
there are a few nice slices, reserve them, if most convenient, to 
be eaten cold. Chop the rest fine ina tray. Take cold gravy, 
without the fat, and put into a spider to heat. If you have not 
this, some of the stock, or water in which meat has been boiled. 
When it boils up, sprinkle in salt, and put in the minced meat ; 
cover it, and let it stand upon the fire long enough to heat 
thoroughly, then stir in a small piece of butter. Toast bread 
and lay in the dish and put the meat over it. The common 
error in heating over meat, sliced or minced, is the putting it 
into a cold spider, with too much fat, and cooking it a long time. 
This makes it oily and tasteless. Almost all meats, when 
cooked a second time, should be done very quick. The good- 
ness of these dishes depends much upon their being served hot. 


Another. 

When tomatoes are to be had, cut up several, according to 
the size of your family, and the quantity of cold meat; put 
them into a covered saucepan or kettle. When it boils put 
in the remnants, large and small, of cold roast beef, and also of 
roast mutton and lamb, if you have them. Add half a spoonful 
of brown sugar, salt, and a small bit of butter unless you have 
cold gravy. This, with the fat taken off, is nearly as good. 
Boil it again, fast, but only long enough to heat the meat thor- 
oughly. Five minutes is enough. 








REMNANTS OF BOILED MEAT — BRAWN. 189 


Remnants of Boiled Meat. 

Chop fine cold pieces of soup meat, or other boiled meat, salt 
or fresh; then add cold potatoes, and when these are chopped 
and mixed with the meat, heat in a spider some cold soup, or 
water in which meat has been boiled. As it boils up, put in 
the meat and potatoes, add salt, and cover it close for two or 
three minutes, then stir in a small piece of butter, let it stand a 
minute or two longer and then serve in a warm dish. 


To heat over Beefsteak. 
Cut it up small, or chop it; put it into a spider or saucepan 
with a little hot water. Season it with salt and a little butter. 
All these dishes of remnants are much improved by using, in- 
stead of water, some of the stock for which a receipt is given on 
page 123. 


Minced Veal. 

Chop fine the pieces left of roast veal. Heat the gravy in a 
" spider, or, if you have none left, melt a piece of butter half the 
size of an egg in a gill of hot water; stir it till it is melted lest 
it become oily. When it boils, put in the veal and cover it; 
stir it two or three times in the course of eight or ten minutes ; 
season it with salt and pepper. ‘Toast two or three slices of 
bread and lay in the dish. Put the veal upon the toast. 


Brawn. 

Boil a hock of beef, and any little pieces you may have be- 
sides, several hours. When the meat is ready to fall from the 
bones, take it out into an earthen pan, salt it, and season it with 
pepper, sage, and sweet marjoram. Put it into a coarse linen 
cloth or towel, twist it up tight and lay a weight upon it. A 
good deal of fat will thus be pressed out. When it has lain 
twenty-four hours take off the cloth. Cut thin slices for breakfast. 
It is very good, and will keep in a cool place several weeks. 
The water in which it was boiled will make excellent soup, or 
stock for gravies. 


- 


190 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Head Cheese. 

Take the head, feet, ears, and tail of a hog, and boil them 
until every bone falls out. Then take all the meat, both fat 
and lean, and put into an earthen pan. Season it with salt, 
pepper, sage, cloves, and summer savory, or any spice and 
herbs you may prefer. Put it into a coarse cloth, twist it up, 
and lay a weight upon it. ‘This is a favorite article of food in 
some parts of the country, and certainly it is very good. Great 
care is necessary in cleaning such giblets of pork. 

Another economical use for them is to take out all the bones, 
as for head cheese, and then return the meat to the liquor, boil 
it up, and stir in Indian meal, just as in making hasty-pudding. 
Put in considerable salt, and let it boil very moderately another 
hour and a half. Then take it up in deep dishes, and when it 
is cold cut it in slices and brown it on a griddle. A convenient 
breakfast article for laborers, but too hearty for persons of 
sedentary habits. 


Souse. 

Take off the horny parts of the feet and toes of a pig, and 
clean the feet, ears, and tail very thoroughly ; then boil them 
till the large bones slip out easily. Pack the meat into a stone 
jar, with pepper, salt, and allspice sprinkled between each layer. 
Mix some good cider vinegar with the liquor in which it was 
boiled, in the proportion of one third vinegar to two thirds 
liquor, and fill up the jar. 


To boil Rice. 

Rice should be carefully picked over, and then washed first 
in warm water, and rubbed between the hands; then, five or 
six times in a good deal of cold water. It will not be white 
unless it is well washed. 

To cook rice as a vegetable to be eaten with meat, put a pint 
into three or four quarts of hot water, with a teaspoonful of salt 
for each quart. Boil it fast fifteen minutes, then pour off the 
water, and set it, uncovered upon the stove where it will not 





ee ee 





CRACKED WHEAT — HASTY PUDDING. 191 


burn, to dry. Boiled in this way, the kernels are separate, and 
it is considered, by those who live in the rice growing countries, 
the best, if not the only proper way of cooking it. 

To boil rice in milk, is a very good way for families that 
keep cows, as it is thus a nice substitute for a pudding. Puta 
pint of rice into nearly two quarts of cold milk, an hour before 
dinner. Add two teaspoonfuls of salt. Boil it very slowly, 
and stir it often. It will cook on the back part of the range or 
stove, and not be liable to burn. When the supply of milk is 
small, boil rice in skimmed milk, or milk and water. It should, 
when boiled in a way to lose the distinct form of the kernels, 
be taken up in a mould, or bowl, wet in cold water, a short time 
before it is served. 


Cracked Wheat. 

Take one or two quarts, according to the size of the family, 
put it into cold water and after stirring it well, let it settle, then 
pour off the water, and add more, in the proportion of three 
quarts to a quart of wheat. Let it stand over night, and the 
next day boil it very moderately two or three hours. Add salt, 
and stir it very often lest it should burn. If it becomes too 
thick, add more water. The evaporation is more rapid at some- 
times than at others. It should be not quite as thick as hasty 
pudding. ‘Take it up in dishes wet in cold water. To brown 
it for breakfast, grease a tin or dripping pan, turn the wheat out 
of the dish upon it, and set it into the stove oven. It will be- 
come heated through, and handsomely browned in half an hour 
or forty minutes, and many people like it thus, better than when 
it is first boiled. Either way it is very nutritious and healthful. 


Hasty Pudding. 

Boil in a pot or kettle about six quarts of water, leaving 
room for the addition of the meal; mix a pint bowl full of 
Indian meal and cold water with a small spoonful of salt. 
When the water boils, stir this into it. After thirty or forty 
minutes, stir in four or five handfuls of dry meal, and let it boil 


nh 


192 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


as much longer; then add more dry meal. ‘Taste it to see if it 
is salt enough. Stir it very often to prevent its burning. Most 
people make it too thick, and do not cook it half long enough. 
Boil it, altogether, at least two hours. When taken out, it 
should be so soft that it will in a few minutes settle down 
smooth in the dish. If you wish to fry it, put a spoonful of 
water into each deep pan or dish into which it is to be put, to 
keep it from sticking. 


Hasty Pudding fried. 

Cut cold pudding in slices the thickness of your finger, and 
lay them on the griddle. More fat will be necessary than for 
buckwheat cakes, but it fries much slower. If the fire is right 
it will be ready to turn in fifteen minutes, and will be brown. 
Turn it and let it lie about half as long as on the first side. 

This is a very good breakfast for a winter morning. It does 
very nicely to be laid in the dripping-pan, and set into a stove 
oven ; it will in that case not need turning, and of course will 
absorb less fat. It will take forty minutes to brown it in the 
stove. 


Pan Pie. 

The sour apples that drop from the trees early in the autumn, 
make an excellent pan pie without being pared. The skin then 
contains much of the richness of the apple, and is often so thin, 
that when cooked, it cannot be distinguished from the pulp. 
There are few articles of diet so healthy and palatable as pan 
pie, that are prepared with so little trouble and expense. 

Where a brick oven is used, the following is a good receipt. 

Take a potters ware pan, that will hold a gallon, and fill it 
with apples, quartered and cored; in winter pare the apples; 
roll out a piece of light bread dough, and lay upon the top; but- 
ter the edge of the pan to prevent the dough from sticking to 
it; cut an opening in the crust to allow the steam to escape, 
and put it into the oven. After about two hours draw it out 
and remove the crust, sweeten it with good molasses, or, if you 


- * 


PAN PIE— CRUMB CAKES. 193 


choose, coarse sugar. Some persons use both. Put in a few 
sticks of cinnamon or some allspice, and a piece of butter as 
large asanut. Stir it up thoroughly from the bottom. Your 
taste must guide you as to the quantity of sugar or molasses. 
Break up the bread crust and put into the apple. If it is very 
moist, return the pan uncovered to the oven; but if dry enough, 
cover it with an old plate; let it stand four or five hours. 
There are various ways of making this dish. Some persons 
prefer to put in the molasses at first, and others use only 
sugar. It is very easy to improve it by rolling a little butter 
into the dough, exactly as in pie-crust; and if this is done 
once only, it makes the crust much more tender. Some per- 
sons put any crusts or pieces of bread they happen to have, into 
the apple, and if the crust that was baked with it is thin, it is a 


very good way. 





Another. 

To make a pan pie to bake in a stove oven, or range, cover 
the bottom of a deep dish with a layer of stewed apple; spread 
over it brown sugar enough to make it sweet, scatter in a little 
powdered cinnamon, and add two or three bits of butter the size 
of a filbert; then lay in pieces of plain pie crust or biscuit, 
baked rather brown, or crusts of light bread; spread a thick 
layer of apple over the pieces, scatter more cinnamon, and pour 
over the whole molasses enough to sweeten the upper layer of 
apple, then bake it in a moderate heat an hour and a half, or 
two hours. It is the best way to make it while the stewed apple 
is hot. 


Crumb Cakes. 

Keep a bowl or pitcher with sour milk in it, and from time to 
time throw in the crumbs of bread which break off when it is 
sliced, and also the dry pieces left of the table. When you 
next want griddle-cakes, take this mixture and break up all the 
pieces with your hand, add an egg, salt, and saleratus, and a 
few spoonfuls of flour. If the proportion of bread is too great, 

17 


) 


194 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


the cakes will not be good. Experience must teach, as no 
exact rule can be given. | 


Milk Toast. 

Put a quart of milk, except two or three spoonfuls, to boil ; 
rub smooth a small table-spoonful of flour in the reserved milk; 
when that in the saucepan begins to boil, stir in a piece of but- 
ter, rather larger than an egg, cut up in little bits. Stir stead- 
ily until it is all melted; then stir in the flour, and add a tea- 
spoonful of salt. When it boils up again, set it where it will 
keep hot, without boiling, while the bread is toasted. Bread is 
not good when it is dried in the process of toasting; it should be 
browned quickly, and dipped while it is hot. 

If you have cream, boil it without adding any butter; when 


boiled, put in a little salt, and a very little flour rubbed smooth 


in a spoonful of milk; dip the slices of toasted bread, and let 


them remain half a minute ; then lay them into a hot dish with 
a cover, and pour over the remainder of the boiled cream. 


Bruiss. 


Take crusts of brown bread, and if they are dry and hard, ~ 


lay them over night in a little water. In the morning add milk 
and boil them slowly. Take care they do not burn. Sprinkle 
in salt, and just before you take them up, add a little butter. If 
there is too much milk, take off the lid the latter part of the 
time. Take up the pieces as whole as you can. 

Crusts of white bread make a good breakfast dish, in 
the same way, except that they do not need soaking over 
night. 


Uses for pieces of Bread, 

In some families there is always an accumulation of pieces of 
bread, and a good deal of ingenuity is necessary to prevent 
waste. If bread is good, and proper care is taken, such a thing 
as a plate of dry pieces is needless. Some families never have 
them. But for the benefit of those who, from any cause, cannot 





- @. 


CARE OF FAT AND DRIPPINGS. 195 


always prevent it, the following modes for making good use of 
pieces are suggested. A bread pudding is easily made, by 
boiling the pieces in milk. You can make as rich a pudding as 
you choose, by adding sugar, eggs, suet, spice, and raisins ; or 
as plain a one, putting no sugar, two eggs, and a few sliced 
apples to a quart of milk, and boil or bake it. Make crumb 
cakes of some of the pieces. Boil a dish of others in milk for 
breakfast. If you are cooking meat that requires or admits of 
a stuffing, soften crusts with a very little boiling water, add 
butter, herbs, and a beaten egg. In summer, when bread be- 
comes mouldy from long keeping, lay the pieces which cannot 
be used immediately, upon a tin and dry them in the oven; 
they are as good pounded for puddings and crumb cakes as 
before drying, and as nice to dress a ham as cracker crumbs. 
Nice pieces of bread are good in pan pie, and also in stewed 
tomato. 

It is a good way to have a small board upon which to slice 
bread; and brush the crumbs from it into a box, or dish kept 
for the purpose. Such things may seem of little consequence, 
but the beneficial influence of economical habits is not limited 
to the actual value of the amount saved. 


Care of Fat and Drippings. 

In a large family, where much meat is consumed, the care of 
the fat and drippings is an important item; and every house- 
keeper should know what is done with them.* If she has a 
young cook, she probably will not be acquainted with the vari- 
ous ways of preventing them from being wasted ; if one who is 
experienced, she may not always care to take the trouble. 
When meat is of a superior quality, there is usually some fat 
which should be trimmed off before it is cooked, and more will 
then roast out, than can be properly used for gravy; therefore, 
about three quarters of an hour before the meat is done, pour 


* The custom of giving them to the cook as her perquisite, besides being 
wasteful is productive of various evils. 


196 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


off all the drippings from the roaster, into a dish, and set them 
away to cool.* Save all the nice pieces of fat, and put those 
that are not so into the soap-grease. In warm weather, the 
good pieces should be clarified once in three or four days; in 
winter, once a week. If you have boiled lamb, or boiled beef 
which has been slightly salted, take the fat which cools on the 


top of the liquor, and add to that poured off from the roaster; 


scrape off any specks'which may be on the under side of it. 
To clarify, cut small all the pieces saved, and put them into a 
small kettle; cover it, and put it on the stove or range where 
it will not burn. It should be tried slowly ; stir it occasionally. 
When it looks clear, the cakes of drippings, the pieces from the 
top of the pot, &c., should be added. As soon as it again be- 
comes clear, pour it through a little sieve, or colander with very 
sraall holes. 

Fat thus clarified will save butter. It makes very good 
plain gingerbread and common pie-crust, or if preferred, can be 


used in each of these with half butter; it is as good as lard, to. 


fry doughnuts or biscuit, and much more healthful; and though 
not equal for frying fish, to salt pork, does very well for this 
purpose. It is well to keep a small stone jar for such fat. A 
brown earthen one soon becomes saturated with it, and smells 
disagreeably. 

The fat of mutton should not be put with other kinds, as it is 
very hard and tallow-like, and the taste is not agreeable. It 
however does very well to use on the griddle, or to grease pans 
for bread. 

The fat which is not nice enough for any of these uses, should 
(unless it is more convenient to dispose of it to the soap boiler) 
be tried for the purpose of making soap. It should be kept in 
a dry place where it will not mould, and be covered so that flies 
will not visit it. Two receipts are given (see page 197) for 
making soap with very little trouble. 


* See the directions for making gravies 





iy 


Pe a ee a SS ee 





TO MAKE SOAP. 197 


To make Soap with Potash. 

Allow sixteen pounds each of grease and potash for a barrel 
of soap. The grease should be such as has been well taken | 
care of, viz., tried before it became wormy or mouldy. The 
potash should be about the color of pumice-stone. That which 
is red, makes dark soap, unfit for washing clothes. Cut up the 
grease into pieces of two or three ounces, put it into a tight bar- 
rel with the potash; then pour in two pailfuls of rain or spring 
water. ‘The soap will be soonest made by heating the water, 
but it is just as sure to be good if made with cold water. Add 
a pailful of soft water every day, until the barrel is half full, 
and stir it well each day. A long stick with a cross piece at 
the lower end, is convenient for the purpose. When the barrel 
is half full, add no more water for a week or ten days, but con- 
tinue to stir it daily. After that, add a pailful a day, until the 
barrel is full. It is the best way to keep soap three or four 
months before beginning to use it. Itspends more economically, 
and is less sharp to the hands. When half of it has been used, 
put two pails of soft water to the rest, and stir it up well, from 
the bottom. The lower half of a barrel of home-made soap is 
always the strongest. Soft soap, made with clean grease and 
good potash is of a light nankeen color, and is better for wash- 
ing flannels and white clothes than any other. 

It is good economy to make soap, and it is so little work to 
make it with potash, and the result is so sure, that no one need 
to be deterred from it by the fear of trouble or ill-success, 


To make Soap with Ashes. 

The following method of making soap with ashes has been 
tried and proved good. 

Provide a leach cask, that is, one that is large at the top, and 
small at the bottom. If this is not readily obtained, procure a 
hogshead that will not leak, have the head taken out at one end, 
and set it, propped forward a little, upon logs placed right and 
left, and high enough from the ground to set a pail under the 

Li? 


198 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


front side. There should be a hole in the bottom, close to the 
front, with a tight plug in it. Lay in two or three bricks 
around the plug hole, and. across them some bits of board, so as 
to reserve a space, and keep the ashes from packing close 
against the plug hole, —also several bricks here and there over 
the bottom with straw or brush laid on them. Then have the 
ashes put in and pressed down, till the hogshead is very full. 
Scoop a hollow in the centre in which to pour the water, and 
then fill it with cold soft water, until it will absorb no more. 
The next day, see if the water has settled away, if so, add 
more. When it is full, cover it up. After three weeks, draw | 
off the ley, and put it into the soap barrel. Then pour into it 
twenty pounds of grease, of all kinds, tried and rough, ham 
skins, and scraps, boiling hot. Stir it very thoroughly, and 
every day. Have the hogshead filled again, and after three or 
four weeks draw off the ley, which will, this time, be compara- 
tively weak; fill up the soap barrel, and continue to stir it daily 
for a week or two. The first ley being very strong will com- 
pletely eat up even the coarsest of the grease, and after three or 
four months you will have a barrel of excellent soap, fit for use. 
In order to have strong ley the ashes should be of good wood. 
Walnut and maple ashes are best for the purpose. If you wish 
to make the soap immediately, the water for filling the leach 
should be nearly boiling, and it can be drawn off the next day. 
Leached ashes are useful to spread upon grass. 


THE CARE OF MILK, AND MAKING 
BUTTER. 


No branch of household economy brings a better reward than 
the making of butter; and to one who takes an interest in 
domestic employments, it soon becomes a pleasant occupa- 
tion. 








CARE OF MILK, AND MAKING BUTTER. 199 


The following instructions are derived from the personal 
experience of one of the most skilful dairy-women in New 
England; and by observing them, the youthful house-keeper, 
hitherto unpractised in such mysteries, will have the pleasure of 
furnishing her table with the finest butter, the work of her own 
hands. ; 

The first requisite is to have a good cow. One that has high 
hips, short fore-legs and a large udder is to be preferred. The 
cream-colored and the mouse-colored cows generally give a 
large quantity and of rich quality. Her feeding should be 
faithfully attended to. She should have a good pasture not far 
distant, or if this is impracticable, care must be taken that she 
is not made to run —a piece of mischief frequently practised. 
Give her a teacupful of salt once a week. Feed her once a 
day with the waste from the-kitchen, adding to it about a 
pint of Indian meal. Give her the skimmed milk not wanted 
in the family. If she does not readily drink it, teach her by 
keeping her a few days without an ample supply of water. 
_ Fake care that nothing is given her which will injure the taste 
of the milk, such as turnips and parsnips. Carrots are a fine 
vegetable for cows. Have her milked by a person who under- 
stands the process, or she will not give it freely, and will soon 
become dry. But the most abundant supply of the richest milk 
will avail little, unless all the articles used in the care of it are 
kept in perfect order. They should not be used for other pur- 
poses. Keep a cloth for washing them only, and never wash 
them in the same water with other dishes. After washing, 
every article, and the cloth with which they are washed, must 
be scalded. Wash off thoroughly all the milk from the pans, 
pail, strainer, churn, dasher, skimmer, spoons, &c., before scald- 
ing them. If milk remains in them when scalded, the butter 
will be injured, as may be supposed, from the fact that a cloth 
strainer, if scalded a few times with milk in it, becomes yellow, 
and as stiff as if it were starched. 

To scald them the water must actually boil. Have a kettle 


200 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


of a size to admit the pail and pans, and plunge all the articles 
into it; as, if the water is only poured on, the edges of the pan 
and the ears of the pail will not always be well scalded. _ 

If a cloth strainer is used, it should be of thin, coarse linen. 
A basin having a fine wire strainer is used by many persons. 
Tin pails and pans are better than wood and earthen; be- 
cause tin is more easily kept sweet than wood, and the glazing 
upon brown earthen pans is sometimes decomposed by sour 
milk.* Large wooden churns, worked by dogs trained to the 
business, are used in large dairies ; but those who keep one or 
two cows only, will find a stone-ware churn best. No other is 
so easily kept sweet. For keeping the cream, never use tin, 
but always stone, cream-colored or fire-proof ware. For work- 
ing butter, keep a wooden bowl and ladle. This last article is 
seldom found in New England, but always in the State of New 
York. Every butter-maker should have it, as the warmth of 
the hand detracts from the sweetness of the butter. 

Have the milk closet on the coolest side of the house, or in 
the dryest and coolest part of the cellar, and with a window in 
it covered with wire-net or slats. Good butter cannot be 
made without a free circulation of fresh air. Allow no drops 
of cream or milk to remain a day on the shelves. Every inch 
of such a closet must be kept perfectly clean. | 

Strain the milk as soon as it is brought in, and set it immedi- 
ately in its place. To remove milk after the cream has begun 
to rise, prevents its rising freely. For the same reason the 
smallest quantity should not be taken from a pan set for raising 
cream; therefore all that is wanted for the day’s use, must be set 
apart from the other pans. Those who have ice through the sum- 
mer, have a valuable aid in making good butter. A piece as large 
as a peach, should be put into a pan containing three quarts of 


* About two years since four men, while making hay in a warm day, 
drank buttermilk which had been kept in a jar of potter’s ware, and every 
one died immediately. 





ee 





CARE OF MILK, AND MAKING BUTTER. 201 


milk, as soon as it is placed in the closet. The milk will not 
sour as soon, and of course will afford more cream. Skim the 
cream as soon as the milk has become loppord, which will, in 
hot weather, be in about thirty hours. To do this, first pass 
the fore-finger round the edge of the pan; (this is better than 
to use the skimmer, because there is a hard, wiry edge of 
cream adhering to the pan, which if taken off will injure the 
butter ;) then take off the cream, clear as possible from the 
milk. 

In very hot weather, especially in August, which is the least 
favorable month for making butter, a heaping spoonful of salt 
should be put into a pailful of milk, after the portion for the 
ordinary family uses is taken out; and at all seasons, fine salt 
should be put into the cream from day to day, as it is gathered. 
The effect of this is excellent, in keeping it sweet and giving a 
rich flavor to the butter. 

The finest butter is made where the number of cows renders 
it necessary to churn every day. The custom of churning once 
a week is not to be tolerated. Cream that is kept seven days, 
unless it be in the coldest weather, cannot be made into good 
butter. If you keep but one cow, churn twice a week; and in 
dog-days, three times. Do it in the cool.of the morning. If 
the weather is warm, set the churn into a tub of cold water; 
add ice if you have it, and put a piece also into the churn. Air 
is necessary to make butter come ; therefore, if the cream flies 
out of the opening around the dasher, do not put any thing 
round to prevent it. When the butter has come, continue the 
strokes of the dasher a few minutes to separate all the little 
particles from the butter-milk. This done, take it out into the 
wooden bowl with a ladle or skimmer. The bowl and ladle 
should have boiling water poured on them when you first begin 
to churn. After a few minutes it should be poured off, and 
cold water be poured on them, and they should stand till you 
are ready to use them. This is to prevent the butter from 
sticking to them. 

Work the butter with the ladle, until the buttermilk ceases 


202 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


to come out; then sprinkle it with clean sifted salt, as that 
which was put into the cream will not be enough; work it in 
well, and taste it to see if more should be added. Observation 
and experience must teach you how much to use. Mould the 
butter with the ladle into balls or lumps of any form you pre- 
fer; put it into a covered jar or tureen and set it in the ice- 
house or cellar. 


Butter is sweetest to be worked but once, and if all which 


you make is used from week to week, it is sufficient, provided 
it comes hard ; if it is soft at first, it must be worked again the 
next morning. That which is to be laid down for future use, or 
to be kept two or three weeks, must be worked again after a 
day or two, and every particle of buttermilk got out. Never 
work butter a third time. : 
From October to June, the best method of raising cream is 
to set the pans for twelve hours in the milk closet, and then for 
five hours on a stove,or a furnace having embers in it, where 


the milk will become hot, but not scald; then return it to the 


closet, and after it is cold, take off the cream, draining it very 
clear from the milk. Much more cream will be obtained in 
this, than in the ordinary method; and at least a quarter more 
butter will be secured from the same quantity of milk. It also 
comes very quick — ten minutes’ churning being often sufficient. 
This is the method practised in Devonshire, England; and the 
clotted cream, as it is there called, is carried up to the London 
“market; for it is not only good for butter, but also for coffee 
and other uses. Care must be taken that the milk is not made 
too hot. If it becomes so hot as almost to scald, the cream will 
have little skinny flakes in it, which will be visible in the 
butter. 


A good Brine for keeping Butter. 


To two quarts of water, put one of clean fine salt, a pound of 
loaf or crushed sugar, and a teaspoonful of saltpetre. . When it 
has stood an hour, in order that the salt and sugar may dissolve, 
strain it through a flannel bag, and pour it over the butter. 





| 





ON MAKING CHEESE. 203 


Less salt may be enough. The object is to have as much as 
the water will take up. 


To keep Butter sweet a Year. 

Take care that the butter is made in the best manner, and 
the buttermilk entirely worked out of it. Lay it in a white- 
oak firkin. Make a strong brine of salt and water, and put it 
into another and larger firkin, and set the one containing the 
butter into the one in which the brine is. Let the brine come 
up very near to the top of the butter firkin. Lay on the top of 
the butter a white bag with fine salt in it, cover it close, and 
then put on the cover of the outside firkin. 


ON MAKING CHEESE. 


THE articles used in making cheese should be kept sweet 
and clean as in making butter. They should be scalded daily, 
and never be set away until perfectly dry. The conveniences 
wanted are a large pine tub, painted white inside; a cheese 
basket and a ladder, on which to set the basket over the tub; 
two cheese-hoops, large or small, according to the size of the 
dairy ; two large square strainers of thin coarse linen; two cir- 
cular boards called followers ; and a brass kettle large enough 
to hold several pails of milk. Presses used are of various con- 
structions. ‘The most convenient one has a lever and weight ; 
and for making very large cheeses, a windlass should be 
attached to the end of the lever. 


To make Cheese. 

Strain the night’s milk into the tub; in the morning stir in 
the cream (if you want rich cheese do not let any of it be 
taken off), and put apart of the milk over a clear fire, in the 
brass kettle. Heat it enough to make the milk which is still in 


204 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


the tub quite warm, but not hot; pour it back into the tub, and — 
strain in the morning’s milk. Put in a spoonful or two of ren- | 
net, stir it well, and let it stand half an hour undisturbed. If 
the curd does not form well by that time put in more rennet. 

To prepare rennet. ‘This is the stomach of a calf; and it is 
often the case that a piece of curd (the last milk eaten by the 
calf) is found in it. See if there is any thing inside which. 
should be removed, and then return the curd to its place, in the 
rennet; it is the best part of it. Soak the rennet in a quart of 
water, then salt it and hang it up to dry where the flies will not 
find it; keep the water in a jar or bottle. There is a great dif- 
ference in the strength of rennets; some will make a thousand 
weight of cheese, while others will scarcely make fifty. Ex- 
perience alone will teach exactly how much to use. 

When the curd is well formed, cut it in squares, making the 
knife go down to the bottom of the tub at every stroke; let it 
stand fifteen minutes for the whey to separate. ‘Then break it 
up very gently, putting the hand down through all parts. It 
should be done gently, or some of the milk will be lost in the 
whey. This causes white whey; the greener the whey, the 
richer the cheese. Lay the strainer on the top of the curd, 
and dip off the whey that presses up through, until you have 
dipped about a third of it. Put this immediately over the fire 
to heat. When hot, but not boiling, pour it back upon the curd 
and then break up the curd small, and as quickly as possible, 
with your hand; then lay the strainer into the cheese basket, 
and pour the curd into it to drain. When this is done, return 
it to the tub, salt it, put it again into the strainer, and then into 
the cheese-hoop. Do not twist up the strainer, but lay it over 
smooth ; lay a follower upon it, put it into the press, and press 
it tight. Let it remain two days, and increase the pressure four 
or five times meanwhile, turning the cheese over each time. If 
you make cheese every day, you will need two presses. 

After this, turn the cheese out upon a shelf, in a dark closet 
or room, secure from flies. Rub every day the side that has 
Jain upon the shelf, and turn it over. Rub it all over with but- 








FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. 205 


ter often. These things must be done for six months. Butter 
made of whey-cream, is generally used for this purpose. If 
cheese is rich, a strip of new American cotton, as wide as the 
thickness of the cheese, should be sewed tight around it, when 
first taken from the press. Without this, it would soon melt 
out of shape. During the season, when flies are about, rub 
cheese now and then with butter sprinkled with cayenne 


pepper. 


FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK, AND 
FOR INFANTS. 


Beef Tea. 

Cur a piece of lean, juicy beef into pieces an inch square, 
put them into a wide-mouthed bottle and cork it tight. Set the 
bottle into a kettle of cold water and boil it an hour and a half. 
This mode of making beef tea concentrates the nourishment 
more than any other. 


Another (furnished by a physician). 

Take a piece of beef cut from the round; take off every par- 
ticle of fat, then cut it into pieces about an inch square and put 
into cold water, in the proportion of a pint to the pound. After 
standing half or three quarters of an hour, set it on the fire and 
boil it slowly several hours. If the water boils away, add 
more cold water, so that there will be a pint of tea for every 
pound of beef. Strain it, add salt, and black pepper also if the 
case allows it. 


Another Way. 

Choose a lean and juicy piece of beef, the size of your hand ; 
take off all the fat; broil it only three or four minutes, on very 
hot coals. Lay it in a porringer or bow], sprinkle it with salt, 
and pour upon it two or three gills of boiling water; then cut it 

18 


206 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


into small pieces, ‘as it lies in the water. Cover it close, and let 
it stand where it will keep hot but not boil. It is fit for use in 
half an hour, and does well where such nourishment is wanted 
immediately. 


This is more agreeable to the taste than tea made by either 


of the two preceding rules, but it is not as good for a patient 
who is so sick as to take but very little nourishment at once. 


Chicken Broth. 
If the weather is warm, use but half a chicken to make broth 
for one person. If it is cool take a whole one, as the broth will 


keep several days. Pull off the skin (because there is a good 


deal of oil in it) and allow two quarts of water for a chicken. 
Skim it in the neatest manner when it begins to boil. Put ina 
large spoonful of rice, and a teaspoonful of salt, and boil it 
slowly two hours. If onion and parsley are to be added, cut 
them fine; put in the onion when the broth has boiled an hour, 
and the parsley five minutes before it is served. 

It is the best way to boil the chicken the day before it is 
wanted, and the next day take off the fat, add the rice, &c., and 
boil it another hour. 


Chicken Tea. 

Take a leg and thigh of a chicken, lay it into a pint of cold 
water, and set it on the fire till it boils up long enough for you 
to skim it. Put in a little salt. 


Chicken Panada. 
Boil a young chicken half an hour in a quart of water. Then 
remove the skin, cut off the white meat, and when cold, put it 


into a mortar with a spoonful or two of the water ig which it. 


was boiled, and pound it to a paste. Season it with salt, and a 
very little nutmeg; add a little more of the water, and boil it 
up three or four minutes. It should be of such a consistency 
that it can be drank, though rather thick. 

The bones which remain may be returned to the water in 





= — i Baie i le ee 


tiie 


ee Se 





FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. “genet | 


which the chicken was boiled ; and with the addition of rice, a 
good broth be made of it. 


Calf’s foot Broth. 

Boil two feet in three quarts of water, until it is wasted to 
three pints. Strain it, and set it aside in a cool place. When 
cold, take off the fat. Heat a little at a time as it is wanted, 
and add salt, nutmeg, and, if approved, a spoonful of good wine. 


Wine Whey. 

To a pint of milk put two glasses of wine; mix it, and 
let it stand twelve minutes, then strain it through a muslin bag 
or a very fine sieve. Sweeten it with loaf sugar. | 

If it is necessary to have the whey weaker, put a little hot 
water to the milk. 


Barley Water. 

Boil an ounce of pearl barley a few minutes to cleanse it, 
pour off the water, and put a quart of cold water and a little 
salt to it. Simmer it an hour. 


Arrow-root. 
The best kinds of arrow-root are the Jamaica and Bermuda. 
Wet a large teaspoonful in a little cold water, with half a tea- ° 
spoonful of salt ; pour on it half a pint of boiling water, stirring 
it very fast. Then set it where it will just boil up for one min- 
ute. Sweeten it, and add milk if it is allowed. Fora drink, 
make it very thin, and put in lemon juice and sugar. 


Pearl Sago, and Tapioca. 
The directions, page 82 are appropriate for the preparation 
of these articles for invalids. 


Milk Porridge. 
Put to half a pint of boiling water, two teaspoonfuls of flour 
wet smooth in cold water, and add salt. Then put in halfa 


208 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


pint of milk, stir it well, and let it boil up again. Vary the q 
proportions of milk and water as the case requires, Made 
wholly with milk it is a very hearty dish. 


Oatmeal Gruel. 

Put two large spoonfuls of oatmeal, wet in cold water, into 
three pints of boiling water; boil it gently half an hour, skim 
it, add a little salt, sugar, and nutmeg. If raisins are also used, 
a large teacupful stoned, will be enough. But gruel with 
raisins should be boiled longer than without. 


Ground Rice Gruel. 

Rub a heaping teaspoonful of ground rice in a small quantity 
of cold water, and stir it into half a pint of boiling water ; add 
a little salt, and let it boil up half a minute. If milk is allowed, 
it is an improvement to make the gruel with equal parts of 
milk and water. 


Indian Meal Gruel. 

This is made in the same way as the ground rice, but re- 
quires much longer boiling. It should never be boiled less than 
half an hour, and an hour is much better. The white froth 
that rises upon the top should never be skimmed off, as it is the 
most nutritious part of the gruel. Nutmeg, sugar, and a spoon- 
ful of cream may be added, if approved. 


Panada. 

Set a saucepan with three gills of water upon the fire, add 
one glass of white wine, a little loaf sugar, and a very little nut- 
meg, and grated lemon. Meanwhile, grate some white bread, 
and the moment the mixture boils, put in the bread, keeping it 
still on the fire. Let it boil fast, and when of a thickness just 
to allow of drinking it, set it off. 


A Nutritious Jelly. 
Take of rice, sago, pearl barley, and hartshorn shavings, each 








FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. 209 


an ounce; add three pints of water, simmer it till reduced to 
one, and then strain it. When cold, it will be a jelly, to be 
given dissolved in broth, milk, or wine, as directed by the phy- 
sician. 


Caudle. 

Into a pint of thin rice gruel put, while it is boiling hot,.a 
mixture made of the yolk of an egg, beaten well with sugar, a 
large spoonful of cold water, a glass of wine, and some nutmeg. 
It should be stirred in by degrees. 


Rennet Whey. 

Wash a piece of rennet an inch or two square, and lay it 
into half a gill of warm water for an hour. Warm a pint of 
milk, but do not make it hot; put it into a shallow dish, and 
stir the rennet-water into it. Let it stand undisturbed half an 
hour, then cut it across many times with a knife, and after an 
hour pour off the whey. Let the dish then remain several 
hours undisturbed, and more whey will be formed. 

In cases of great debility of the stomach, consequent upon in- 
flammation, or attended with it, rennet whey will be retained 
when every thing else is rejected, and may be given, a tea- 
spoonful at the time, very often, in order to prepare the stomach 
to receive and retain nourishment. 


Apple Tea. 
Roast sour apples and pour boiling water upon them. Let 
them stand till the water is cold. 


Another. 

Pare and slice thin three or four pleasant sour apples, pour a 
pint of boiling water on them, and boil them six or eight min- 
utes. Let them stand till they are cold, then pour or strain off 
the water, and sweeten it a little, unless the invalid prefers it 


without. It is a refreshing drink. 
ir 


210 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


A Refreshing Draught in a Fever. 

Wash a few sprigs of sage, burnet, balm, and sorrel, and put 
them into a jug with halfa sliced lemon. Pour in three pints 
of boiling water, sweeten it, and stop it close. | 


Crust Coffee. 

Take a large crust of bread; brown is to be preferred, but 
Graham bread will answer. Dry it in the toaster, and at last 
almost burn both sides; lay it in a saucepan and pour boiling 
water on it; boil it up a minute or two, and then strain off the 
coffee ; return it to the saucepan with a little milk or cream, 
and boil it up again. It should be made strong enough to look 
like real coffee, of which it is a very good imitation when well 
made. 


Toast Water. 

Toast a crust of white bread very brown without burning it, 
and put it into cold water. After an hour, the water will be a 
refreshing drink; and it is sometimes grateful to the stomach 
when no other can be taken. 


Herb Drinks. 

Herb drinks should be made with boiling water in an earthen 
pitcher or tea-pot, and be drank after standing a few minutes 
without boiling. Long steeping makes them insipid and dis- 
agreeable. 

All food and drink for the sick should be prepared with 
careful attention and perfect neatness, and should be served in 
as inviting a manner as possible. ‘The appetite of an invalid is 
excited or checked by things that escape the observation of a 
person in health. 


Food for a Young Infant. 

Pour four spoonfuls of boiling water upon one of sweet cream, 
and add a very little loaf sugar. ‘This receipt was given by an 
experienced physician, and has been proved, to be entirely 
suited to the stomach of the -youngest infant. But care must 








FOOD FOR INFANTS, 211 


be taken to secure good cream; and this ean be done only by 
providing new milk every day, from one cow. Mixed milk 
cannot be safely used for a little infant. 


For a child just weaned. 

There is always danger, especially in warm weather, that 
the stomach, even of a healthy child, will become disordered by 
being weaned ; and it is important to guard against the evil, by 
careful attention to the diet, for a little while. Boil every 
morning new milk enough to last twenty-four hours, and stir 
into it the best of arrow-root wet in cold water, in the proportion 
of a large teaspoonful to a quart. Add a very little salt, and 
boil it up again for one minute, then set it in a cold place. 


Flour Gruel (for children sick with teething complaints). 

Tie up in a piece of thick cotton cloth a coffee-cup of white 
flour. Put it into boiling water, and keep it boiling steadily 
three hours. ‘Then remove the cloth and lay the lump where 
it will become perfectly dry. To use it, grate it and thicken 
two gills of boiling milk with a dessert spoonful of it wet in 
cold water. Put a little salt in the milk. This is excellent 
food for feeble children. 


[The value of the following receipts has been proved in the 
successful rearing of very feeble infants by the use of them. 
Several mothers have gratefully testified to their excellence, 
especially for children reduced to extreme debility by teething 
complaints. After weighing the articles a few times it will be 
easy to proportion the ingredients by measure |. 


Food for an Infant at successive periods, 

For the first three months: — 5 grains of gelatine; 25 grains 
of arrow-root; 2 gills of milk; 1 gill of cream; 14 pints of 
water. 

From three to six months : — gelatine, arrow-root, and ESS 
as above; 38 gills of milk; 1 gill of cream. 

From six to nine months.: — gelatine, arrow-Toot, and water, as 
aboye; 1 pint of milk; 14 gills of cream. 


+ 


212 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


From nine to twelve months: — gelatine, arrow-root, and 
water, as above; 1} pints of milk; 14 or 2 gills of cream. 

If the child is feeble, use in each case one quart of water. 

Put the gelatine into 1} pints of hot water, and when it boils 
add the arrow-root dissolved in a gill of cold water. When this 
has boiled five minutes, add the milk, and when it boils again 
pour in the cream. Take it from the fire, and sweeten with 
loaf sugar until it is slightly sweeter than cow’s milk. Strain 
if necessary, through fine muslin, and stir occasionally while 
cooling. Ifthe child is constipated, use a little more cream, or 
sweeten with brown sugar. In the opposite case, use a little 
less cream. This food should be prepared once in twenty-four 
hours ; in warm weather, twice, unless kept in avery cool place. 


MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS AND 
DIRECTIONS. 


Lemon Syrup. 


One pound of loaf or crushed sugar to every half pint of - 


lemon juice. Let it stand twenty-four hours, or till the sugar 
is dissolved, stirring it very often with a, silver spoon. When 
dissolved, wring a flannel bag very dry in hot water, strain 
the syrup, and bottle it. This will keep almost any length of 
time. ‘ 


Another without lemons. 


Put six pounds of white sugar to three pints of water, and | 


boil five minutes. Have ready the beaten white of an egg 
mixed with half a pint of water, and stir it into the boiling mix- 
ture. In a few minutes a scum will arise, and the kettle must 
be set off from the fire, and stand five minutes; then remove 
the scum. When it is almost cold, measure it, and to a gallon 
of syrup put three ounces of tartaric acid, dissolved in half a 
pint of hot water; add at the same time a large teaspoonful of 








MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. “213 


the oil of lemon. When it is cold, bottle it. The goodness of 
the syrup (and it is an excellent imitation of the genuine), de- 
pends on the oil of lemon being fresh. If this is in the least 
rancid, it will spoil the syrup. 


Raspberry Vinegar. 

To two quarts of raspberries, put a pint of cider vinegar. 
Let them lie together two or three days; then mash them up 
and put them in a bag to strain. ‘To every pint, when strained, 
put a pound of best sugar. Boil it twenty minutes, and skim it. 
Bottle it when cold. 


Currant Wine. 

Use sugar, water, and currant juice in these proportions, viz., 
one quart each of juice and the best of sugar, and two of water. 
Put the mixture into a tight keg with a faucet. Leave out the 
bung for two or three weeks, and then put it in loosely, so that 
if it continues to ferment longer, the keg will not burst. After 
a few days more put in the bung tight. Let it stand a year, 
and then draw it off and bottle it. 


Another. 

To one gallon of currant juice, put nine pounds of the best of 
sugar, and two gallons of water. Set it where it wont be dis- 
turbed, and bottle it at the end of the year. ; 


Currant Shrub. 

Boil currant juice five minutes with loaf or crushed sugar—a 
pound of sugar to a pint of juice. Stir it constantly while cool- 
ing, and when cold, bottle it. A spoonful or two in a tumbler 
of water affords a refreshing beverage. 


Sarsaparilla Mead. 
Three pounds of sugar, three ounces of tartaric acid, one 
ounce of cream tartar, one of flour, one of essence of sarsapa- 


214 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


rilla, and three quarts of water. Strain and bottle it, then let it 
stand ten days before using it. 


English Ginger Beer 


Pour four quarts of boiling water, upon an ounce and a half of 
ginger, an ounce of cream of tartar, a pound of clean brown 
sugar, and two fresh lemons, sliced thin. It should be wrought 
twenty-four hours, with two gills of good yeast, and then bottled. 
It improves by keeping several weeks, unless the weather is 
hot, and it is an excellent beverage. If made with loaf 
instead of brown sugar, the appearance and flavor are still 
finer. 


Maple Beer. 

To four gallons of boiling water, add one quart of maple syrup 
and a small table-spoonful of essence of spruce. When it is 
about milk warm, add a pint of yeast; and when fermented 
bottle it. In three days it is fit for use. 


Spring Beer. 

Take a handful of checkerberry (wintergreen), a few sassa- 
fras roots cut up, a half a handful of pine-buds, while they are 
small and gummy, and a small handful of hops.* Put all 
these into a pail of water over night, and in the morning boil 
them two or three hours; fill up the kettle when it boils away. 
Strain it into a jar or firkin that will hold a half a pailful more 
of water. Stir in a pint and a half of molasses, then add the 
half pailful of water, and taste it. If not sweet enough add 
more molasses. It loses the sweetness a little in the process 
of fermentation, and should therefore be made rather too sweet 
at first. Add two or three gills of good yeast, set it in a warm 
place, and let it remain undisturbed till it is fermented. When 


* If dried in the ordinary way. But a small pinch of the hops put up in 
pound packages by the Shakers is enough. 





4 
4 
2 
‘ 


Se 


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‘ MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 215 


the top is covered with a thick dark foam, take it off; have 
ready clean bottles and good corks; pour off the beer into an- 
other vessel, so gently as not to disturb the sediment ; then bot- | 
tle it, and set it in a cool place. It will be ready for use in two 
days. The sediment should be put into a bottle by itself, 
loosely corked, and kept to ferment the next brewing. 


Spruce and Boneset Beer. 

Boil a small handful each of hops and boneset for an hour 
or two, in a pailful of water; strain it, and dilute it with cold 
water till it is of the right strength. Add a small table-spoon- 
ful of essence of spruce, sweeten, ferment and bottle it, like the 
spring beer. 

The essences of hops, checkerberry, ginger, and spruce, put 
into warm water in suitable proportions, then sweetened, fer- 
mented, and bottled, make good beer. 


Rennet Wine. 

Wash a third, or half of a salted rennet ; wipe it dry and put 
it into a bottle of wine. ‘The wine will be fit to use for custard 
the next day. To keep the remainder of the rennet till more is 
needed, put it into a strong brine and cover it close. 


To Boil Cider. 

Take cider which has been made but a day or two, and boil 
it nearly half away. Skim it often. It will keep good a long 
time, and is useful in making mince pies, and to flavor pudding 
sauce. Bottle it and cork it well. A mould will form over 
the top, but will not injure the cider. 


Cologne Water. 

To one gallon of alcohol, put twelve drachms each, of oil of 
lavender, oil of bergamot, and essence of lemon; four drachms 
of oil of rosemary, and twelve drops of oil of cinnamon. 


“ 


216 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Indelible Ink. 

To make the ink, put into the small bottle six cents worth of 
lunar caustic, and fill it with rain water. 

To make the wash, nearly fill the largest bottle with soft 
water, and add gum arabic enough to make a thin solution — 
about a teaspoonful of the lumps. Then put in a drachm of 
salt of tartar. If the ink spreads, add more gum-arabic to the 
wash. 


To prevent Books, Ink, Paste, &c., from moulding. 
A drop or two of oil of lavender on a book, and a single one 
in a pint bottle of ink, will prevent mould. 


Tooth Powder. 
Two ounces of Peruvian bark, two of myrrh, one of chalk, 
one of Armenian bole, and one of orris root. 


Rose Butter (a good substitute for rose water). 

Gather every morning the leaves of the roses that blossomed 
the day before, and put them in a stone jar in alternate layers 
with fine salt. After all the leaves are gathered, put a saucer 
or small plate into the jar, and lay in a pound of butter, for 
cake or pudding sauce. It is a very good way of obtaining the 
flavor of roses, without expense. 


To keep Parsley. 

Gather fresh sprigs, and after washing them, chop them fine, 
and work them into as much butter as will be needed for boiled 
poultry, lamb, and fish, before the next summer. Put the butter 
into a stone jar, and cover it with a brine made with nice salt. 


To keep Suet. 

Pull off the skin or membrane from fresh suet, sprinkle salt 
upon it, tie it up in a cloth or bag, and hang it in a cool, dry 
place. It will keep sweet the year round. 





ee ee ee Ee ee ee eS 








MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. LE 


‘To keep Eggs. 


To four quarts of air-slacked lime, put two ounces of cream 
of tartar (that is, two table-spoonfuls), two of salt, and four 
quarts of cold water. Put fresh eggs into a stone jar, and pour 
the mixture over them. This will keep nine dozen, provided 
they are all good when laid down; and after many months, the 
yolks will be still whole, and the whites stiff and clear as at 
first. ‘The water may settle away so as to leave the upper layer 
uncovered. If so, add more. Cover them closely and keep 
them in a cool place. 

Eggs should be laid down when they: are at the lowest market 
price. 


To cleanse a Calf’s Head and Feet. 

Take them as soon as the animal is killed, wash them clean, 
and in order to remove the hair, sprinkle pulverized rosin over 
them and dip them for an instant in scalding water. ‘The rosin 
will dry immediately, and they can be easily scraped clean. 
Soak them from one to three days in cold water, changing it 
repeatedly. 


To kill Cockroaches and Beetles. 
Strew the roots of black hellebore, at night, in the places in- 
fested by these vermin, and they will be found in the morn- — 
jug dead, or dying. Black hellebore grows in marshy grounds, 

and may be had at the herb shops. 


To drive away Ants. 

The little red ants will leave closets where sea-sand is sprink- 
led, or where oyster shells are laid. 

Scatter sprigs of wormwood in places infested with black 
ants. 


To secure Woollens, Furs, Furniture, etc., from Moths. 
Carefully shake and brush woollens early in the spring, so as 
to be certain that no eggs are in them; then sew them up in 
19 


218 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


cotton or linen wrappers, putting a piece of camphor gum, tied 
up in a bit of muslin, into each bundle, or into the chests and 
closets where the articles are to lie. When the gum is evapo- 
rated it must be renewed. 

A lady put up her blankets and carpets in this way before 
going to Europe, and on her return, three or four years after, 
found every article safe from moths. 

Furs should not be hung out in the sun in the spring before 
being put away for the season. The moth miller will be likely 
to visit them when thus exposed. They should be put into a 
close box with a piece of camphor, and the box tied up in a pil- 
low case or bag. | 

Blankets that are in use only occasionally during the summer, 


should be laid when not wanted, under a mattress in constant. 


use, or in a trunk where there are pieces of camphor gum, or 
cedar chips. It would be a most convenient arrangement for 
housekeepers to have a closet with shelves and draws made of 
cedar boards. 


It is more difficult than it used to be, to preserve woollens, 


furs, carpets, and furniture from being injured by moths. 
Thirty years since it was regarded as an indication of very 
negligent housekeeping to have a moth-eaten carpet. Now, 
the utmost care will not always preserve carpets from being 
injured in this way. Perhaps the reason may be, that in general, 
warehouses and dwellings are warmed throughout, during the 
winter, by furnaces. New stuffed and cushioned furniture is 
sometimes found to contain moths. To destroy them, pour burn- 
ing fluid plentifully upon the cushions, sofas, &c. If it is fresh, 
it will leave no stain, and the disagreeable odor will soon pass 
away. ‘To preserve a carpet that cannot be often shaken, draw 
out the tacks twice a year, turn back the edges a quarter of a 
yard all around, brush out the dust, and then with a painter’s 
brush put new spirits of turpentine upon the boards as far as 
the carpet is turned back; then return it immediately to its 
place, and put in the tacks. 

The floors of some houses have moths in the cracks. In this 





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MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 219 


case, cedar saw-dust sprinkled over the floor before laying down 
the carpet, will protect it from these diligent misehief-workers. 
If this cannot be had use tar-paper. 


To kill Moths. 

Take furs or pillows infested with moths, and put them into a 
brick oven which has just been used for baking. Let them 
remain over night, and the next day beat them well in the open 
air. 


To remove the Bad Odor from New Feathers. 


Make a cover for the bed of some coarse material, or a couple 
of old sheets; get a baker to put it into his oven one or two 
nights. A better way, when it can be done, is to send the 
feathers in bags to a baker’s oven, before they are put into the 
tick. 


To purify a Sink or Drain. 
Dissolve half a pound of copperas in two gallons of water, 
and pour in half one day, and the remainder the next. 


To take out Mildew. : 
(This and the next receipt were furnished by a chemist.) 
Obtain the dryest chloride of lime that can be bought, and 

for strong fabrics dissolve four table-spoonfuls in a half a 

pint of water. Let the mildewed article lie fifteen minutes in 

this solution. Then take it out, wring it gently, and put it 
immediately into weak muriatic acid—one part of the acid 
and four parts soft water. 

For delicate fabrits, laces, muslins, &c., the solution of lime 
should be diluted by the addition of three or four times the 
measure of water. Let the article lie in it five minutes; then 
put it into the muriatic acid. 


To take out Iron Mould. 
Dissolve a teaspoonful of salts of tin in two table-spoonfuls 


220 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


of water. Dip the iron-mould into the solution, and let it re- 


main five minutes. Then dip it into a mixture of equal parts 
of muriatic acid and water. Dip the mould spots alternately 
into these mixtures, or make the first one stronger with the 
salts of tin, and apply it with a soft rag on the end of a stick. 
Last of all, rinse the articles very thoroughly in cold water. 

A simpler method of removing iron-mould succeeds well, pro- 
vided it is recent, and not very dark. ‘Tie up a teaspoonful of 
cream of tartar in the moulded place, and put it into cold water 
without soap, and boil it half an hour. 


To take out Ink. 

Turn boiling water upon it immediately, in this way: spread 
the cloth over a pitcher or basin, with the ink-spots in the 
centre, and while you hold it in its place, let another person 
turn the boiling water on the spots. This is better than to put 
the article into boiling water, as the whole will then be tinged 
with the ink. If the spots are still visible, tie up a teaspoonful 
of cream of tartar in the places where they are — more for a 
large stain, less for a very small one — then put the cloth into 
cold water without soap, and boil it half an hour. If it is not 
convenient to put boiling water at once on the stains, put them 
in cold water ; do not let them become dry. 

Articles that have been stained with ink or fruit, should not 
be put into soap suds until the stains are removed. Soap will 
tend to make them permanent. 


To take out Fruit Stains. 

Tie up cream of tartar in the spots, and put the cloth in cold 
water, to boil; or if the stains are much spread, stir the cream 
of tartar into the water. If they are still visible, boil the cloth 
in a mixture of subcarbonate of soda a small table-spoonful to a 
pail of water. 


To take out Grease or Fresh Paint. 
Rub grease spots with chloric.ether. To remove paint, the 








MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 221 


ether should be applied on the other side. The ether carries 
off the oil by evaporation, and leaves the lead of which the paint 
was composed, dry. New turpentine will remove fresh paint. 


To remove rust from Iron Ware and Stoves. 

New stove or range furniture is sometimes so much rusted 
as to make the use of it very inconvenient. Put into a rusty 
kettle as much hay as it will hold, fill it with water and boil it 
many hours. At night set it aside, and the next day boil it 
again. If it is not entirely fit for use, repeat the process. It 
will certainly be effectual. 

Rub the rusty spots on a stove with sand-paper, and then 
with sweet oil. 


To take off starch or rust from Flat-irons. 

Tie up a piece of yellow beeswax in a rag, and when the 
iron is almost, but not quite hot enough to use, rub it quickly 
with the wax, and then with a coarse cloth. 


To prevent Glass, Earthen, Potier’s and Iron Ware from be- 
ing easily broken. 


Put dishes, tumblers, and other glass articles into a kettle; 
cover them entirely with cold water, and put the kettle where 
it will soon oil. When it has boiled a few minutes, set it aside, 
covered close. When the water is cold, take out the glass. 

Treat new earthen ware in the same way. When potter’s 
ware is boiled, a handful or two of bran should be thrown into 
the water, and the glazing will never be injured by acids or 
salt. 

Cast-iron stoves, and iron ware should be heated gradually 
the first time they are used. 


A permanent Cement for Glass, China, and Wood. 

Steep Russian Isinglass twenty-four hours in white brandy, 
gently boil and stir the mixture until it is well compounded, 
and a drop of it, cooled, will become a very thick jelly; then 
strain it through a linen cloth, and cork it up closely. A gentle 

19 * 


222 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


heat will dissolve it into a colorless fluid. Broken dishes united 
with it, will break elsewhere, rather than separate in the old 
fracture. To apply it, rub the edges, place them together, and 
hold them two or three minutes. 


To preserve steel Knives from Rust. 

Never wrap them in woollen cloths. When they are not to 
be used for some time, have them made bright, and perfectly 
dry ; then take a soft rag, and rub each blade with dry wood- 
ashes. Wrap them closely in thick brown paper and lay them 
in a drawer or dry closet. A set of elegant knives, used only on 
great occasions, were kept in this way more than an hundred 
years without a spot of rust. 


To prevent Ivory Knife Handles from being cracked. 

Never let knife blades stand in hot water as is sometimes 
done to make them wash easily. The heat expands the steel 
which runs up into the handle a very little, and this cracks the 
ivory. Knife handles should never lie in water. A handsome 
knife, or one used for cooking is soon spoiled in this way 


To remove spots from Furniture. 

Paint or white spots occasioned by spilling medicine or set- 
ting something hot upon furniture, can be removed by rubbing 
them with camphene. 


To remove Mortar or Paint from Windows. 

Rub the spots of mortar with a stiff brush dipped in sharp, 
hot vinegar, and paint spots with burning fluid or camphene and 
sand. 


To clean Paint with Pumice-stone.. 

Use powdered pumice-stone instead of whiting or sand. It 
cleans paint very quickly, and without injuring it. But very 
little should be put on the cloth at once. <A pint of it is enough 
to clean the paint of a large house. It is well to keep it on 
hand, as it is often needed for removing spots from paint, and 
for cleaning closet shelves. 








MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. eo 


To polish unvarnished Mahogany Furniture. 

First take out ink stains, if there are any, by touching them 
with spirits of salt. Do it with a sponge tied upon the end of 
a stick ; then wash the spots instantly with vinegar, and make 
the whole surface to be polished, clean with it. Then rub on 
the following preparation with a woollen cloth : — 

Melt together in an earthen pot two ounces of beeswax, and 
half an ounce of alconet root ; then take it from the fire and add 
two ounces of spirits of wine, and half a pint of spirits of tur- 
pentine. Polish with a soft silk cloth. 


To clean Silver and Plated Ware. 

Use fine whiting, and wet it with hartshorn instead of water. 
The spots that make their appearance upon silver or plated- 
ware that is not in constant use, are quickly removed by this 
mixture. Silver is injured by coarse whiting; therefore it is 
well to sift it through a piece of muslin. ’ 

It is a good way to boil half an ounce of hartshorn powder in 
a pint of water, and put into it clean linen or cotton rags 
enough to absorb the whole of the mixture ; then dry them, and 
keep them to clean silver and plate. Wash leather should be 
used afterwards. 


To clean Paper Hangings. 

Put a clean soft bag, or an old pillow-case over a new broom, 
and gently brush the dust from the paper; then take crusts of 
stale bakers’ bread, and wipe it down lightly, beginning at the 
top. If you rub it, the dirt will adhere to the paper. After 
thus brushing all around the upper part of the walls with the 
bread, begin just above where you left off, and go round again. 
Do thus until you have finished the paper. The dust and 
crumbs will fall together. Whenever a room is cleaned it is a 
good way, before the paint and windows are washed, to wipe 
the paper with a covered broom as above directed. 


To prepare earth for House Plants. 
Put together equal parts of the three following things — soil 


+ 


all 


224 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


from the sides of a barn-yard, well-rotted manure, and leaf 
mould from the woods, or earth from the inside of an old tree 
or stump. Add a small quantity of sand. For Cactuses, put 
as much sand as of the other materials and a little fine char- 
coal. 


To raise Hyacinths in Winter. 

When they are put into the glasses or earth, set them into a 
dark closet until they sprout. If they are in glasses, do not let 
the water touch the bulb, by an inch. When the roots have 
shot down to the water, fill the glass, put in a piece of charcoal, 
and set them in the sun. 


Soot Tea for Roses. 

Get soot from a stove or chimney where wood is used for 
fuel, put it into an oid pitcher, and pour hot water upon it. 
When cool, use it to water your plants every few days. When 
it is all used, fill up the pitcher again with hot water. The 
effect upon plants, especially upon roses that have almost hope- 
lessly deteriorated is wonderful in producing a rapid growth of 
thrifty shoots, with large thick leaves, and a great number of. 
richly-tinted roses. Never despair of a decayed rose till this 
has been tried. 


To destroy Grass in Gravel Walks. 

Scatter the cheapest coarse salt along the edges, and where- 
ever the grass is springing. 

Even the Canada thistle can be rooted out by cutting off the 
stalks very near, but not below the surface of the ground, and 
putting salt on them. Old brine, not fit for any other purpose, 
is good for this. 


Use to be made of Ashes, Saw-dust, etc. 

To spread ashes upon grass makes it thrifty, and of a richer 
green. Those which have been first used for making soap, are 
as good for the purpose as new ashes. Let them be scattered 
just before a rain. 





ce 


MISCELLANEOUS DIRECTIONS. 225 


If you cultivate raspperries and blackberries, have saw- 
dust from the wood-house put around them once a year. Where 
these berries grow wild, the largest ones are found near decayed 
stumps and logs. 


To purify a Well. 

When a well is cleared out, if any offensive substance is found 
in it, have the bottom sprinkled with two or three quarts of 
quick-lime. : 


As a general rule, it is most economical to buy the best 
articles. The price is, of course, always a little higher; but 
good articles spend best. It is a sacrifice of money to buy poor 
flour, meat, sugar, molasses, butter, cheese, lard, &c., to say 
nothing of the injurious effect upon the health. 

Of West India sugar and molasses, the Santa Cruz and Porto 
Rico are considered the best. The Havana is seldom clean. 
White sugar from Brazil is sometimes very good. Refined 
- sugars usually contain most of the saccharine substance, there- 
fore there is probably more economy in using loaf, crushed, and 
granulated sugars, than we should at first suppose. 

Butter that is made in September and October is best for 
winter use. Lard should be hard and white, and that which is 
taken from a hog not over a year old, is best. 

Rich cheese feels soft under the pressure of the finger. That 
which is very strong is neither good or healthy. To keep one 
that is cut, tie it up in a bag that will not admit flies, and hang 
it in a cool, dry place. If mould appears on it, wipe it off with 
a dry cloth. 

Flour and meal of all kinds should be kept in a cool, dry 
place. 

The best rice is large, and has a clear, fresh look. Old rice 
sometimes has little black insects inside the kernels. 


226 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


The small white sago, called pearl sago, is the best. The 
large brown kind has an earthy taste. These articles, and 
tapioca, ground rice, &c., should be kept covered. 

The cracked cocoa is the best, but that which is put up in 
pound papers is often very good. 

Shells are apt to be musty. Try a quarter of a pound before 
buying a quantity. 


To select nutmegs, prick ee with a pin. If they are good, 


the oil will instantly spread around the puncture. 

Keep coffee by itself as its odor affects other articles. Keep 
tea in a close chest or canister. 

Oranges and lemons keep best wrapped close in soft paper, 
and laid in a drawer of linen. 

When a cask of molasses is bought, draw off a few quarts, 
else the fermentation produced by moving it will burst the cask. 

Bread and cake should be kept in a tin box or stone jar. 


Salt cod should be kept in a dry place, where the odor of it 


will not affect the air of the house. The best kind is that 
which is called Dun, from its peculiar color. Fish-skin for 
clearing coffee should be washed, dried, cut small, and kept in 
a box or paper bag. 

Soft soap should be kept in a dry place in the-cellar, and 
should not be used till three months old. ; 

Bar soap should be cut into pieces of a convenient size, 
and laid where it will become dry. It is well to keep it several 
weeks before using it, as it spends fast when it is new. 

Cranberries will keep all winter in a firkin of water in the 
cellar. 

Potatoes should be put into the cellar as soon as they are 
dug. Lying exposed to the sun turns them green, and makes 
them watery. Some good housekeepers have sods laid over 
barrels of potatoes not in immediate use. To prevent them 
from sprouting in the spring, turn them out upon the cellar-bot- 
tom. 

To thaw frozen potatoes put them in hot water. To thaw 





| 
: 





MISCELLANEOUS DIRECTIONS. ak 227 


frozen apples put them in cold water. Neither will keep long 
after being frozen. 

Cabbages should be buried in sand, with the roots upward. 

Celery should also be buried in sand. 

Turnips and beets should be put in a dry part of the cellar. 
Carrots keep anywhere. Onions keep best spread, and in a 
cool place, but should not freeze. Parsnips are best buried in 
a pit in the garden, and not opened till March or April, in cold 
parts of the country. 

Squashes should be kept in a dry place, and as cold as may 
be without freezing. 

Apples should remain out of doors in barrels till the weather 
becomes too cold. ‘They should not be headed up immediately 
after being gathered, as a moisture accumulates upon them 
which causes them to decay. When brought in, set them in a 
back room, until the weather requires their being put into the 
cellar. A linen cloth laid over them will keep them from frost 
till very cold weather. Many good housekeepers prefer not to 
have apples headed up at all. There is an advantage in being 
able to pick them over several times in the course of a winter, 
as one defective apple injures all its neighbors. If they are 
moist, wipe them. 

Herbs should be gathered when just beginning to blossom ; 
as they are then in their perfection. Medicinal herbs should be 
dried, put up in paper bags, and labelled. Those used in cooking 
should be pounded, sifted, and put into labelled boxes or bottles. 
Herbs retain their virtue best, to be dried by artificial heat. 
The warmth of an oven a few hours after the bread is drawn, is 
sufficient. 

Inspect every part of your house often, and let every place 
be neatly kept. Habits of order in housekeeping save a great 
deal of time and trouble, and the most thorough way of doing 
every thing, is the most economical of labor and money, in the 
end. 

Every thing used in the preparation of food should be kept 
clean. A half washed pot or saucepan, or a dingy brass kettle, 


228 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND 


will spoil the articles cooked in them. A lady should acchstom ~ 
herself to such habits of attention to her household concerns, 
that careless ways on the part of those who serve her, will not 
escape her observation. Unfaithfulness in servants is the sure 
result of ignorance or negligence in the housekeeper. 


DIRECTIONS ABOUT WASHING, &c. 


Tue design of these directions is to assist the inexperienced ; 
tq teach those who are unacquainted with the business of wash- 
ing, how to do it, and those who can afford to employ others, 
how to direct them; and also to discover where the fault lies 
when it is not done well. 

As I write only for the uninitiated, I shall be excused for 
being very minute; and for giving some preliminary hints, 
needed only by learners. 

For the family wash, good water, and good soap are indis- 
pensable. Rain, river, or spring water is best, but in some 
places the well-water is soft, and good for washing. Clothes 
washed repeatedly in hard water with common soap, will soon 
become too yellow to be worn, and can never be made white 
again. As the supply of soft water sometimes fails where a 
cistern is depended on, it may be well to mention that hard 
water can be made to answer the purpose, temporarily, by dis- 
solving in it the sub-carbonate of soda, commonly called wash- 
ing-soda. Put a large table-spoonful into three or four pails of 
water while it is heating, and then use the olive-soap both for 
rubbing and boiling the clothes. Remember that soda must 
not be used in washing calicoes or flannels. It will spoil both. 
Here it may be well to say that white clothes which are con- 
stantly washed with soda, will, when laid aside a few months 
become of a deep yellow color, not easily removed by any 
ordinary bleaching process. 








DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING, ETC. 229 


Provide a wash bench of convenient height, three tubs, one a 
large one for rinsing,* a water ladle, a pail to be kept for use 
about the washing alone, a washing board, a clothes stick, 
clothes pins, a line and two baskets; one cheap coarse one in 
which to drain the clothes, when taken from the boiling-kettle, 
and a better one for taking them to the line, and for laying 
them in to when folded for the ironing. Have good soft soap, 
which, if you cannot readily procure at the manufactory, you 
can make with very little trouble.t— Bar-soap is not necessary 
for white clothes, provided the soft is of a nice quality. The 
olive soap is a great improvement on the common yellow soap. 
If it is several months old, it spends economically, cleanses 
quickly, and is not sharp to the hands. 

When clothes are very much soiled, they should be put into 
a tub of warm suds over night. 

Borax soap is so effectual in cleansing soiled clothes, that the 
use of it essentially diminishes the labor of washing. To prepare 
it, put together bar soap, borax, and hot water in the following 
proportions, — a pound of the soap, cut into small pieces, an ounce 
of powdered borax, and a quart of hot water. Mix the ingredi- 
ents together over the fire, but see that it does not boil. When 
it is cold, cut it up in cakes, and use it like common hard soap. 
Put the clothes which are most soiled, or if you choose, all the 
white clothes of the wash into quite a warm suds made with 
this soap, and let them remain from Saturday evening until 


* A large painted wash-tub is expensive, and it may be convenient to some 
persons to know that a very good rinsing tub can be made of a flour bar- 
rel. Take one thatis clean and well made; have the upper part sawed 
off about nine inches. See that there are no nails sticking through. 
Make three holes large enough to admit the fingers, in two opposite staves, 
to serve for handles. If there are cracks, caulk them, and fill the tub with 
water. ‘The water will soon swell the staves so as to close the cracks ; and 
when it has once done leaking, keep it always turned down in the cellar 
when not in use. All kinds of tubs and firkins should be turned down on 
the cellar floor, to prevent them from leaking. 

t See two receipts, p. 197. 
20 


230 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Monday morning. This method is recommended by very good — 7 
housekeepers. 

To do the Washing. Sort the clothes, putting the finest and 
cleanest by themselves, to be washed first and the coarse and 
more soiled ones together. Where there are white clothes 
enough to make two or three boilings, sort them accordingly ; 
always boil coarse towels by themselves. If there are fine cali- 
coes, uice ginghams, or delicate printed muslins, separate them 
from the common ones, and also the white flannel, angola, or 
merino articles from the colored woollens. 

The tub should be a third full of water, not hot, but very 
warm. Stir in soap enough to make a weak suds, and put in the 
nicest clothes. Rub handkerchiefs, night-caps, and other fine 
articles between the hands, using a little soap. Never rub them 
on a washboard. As fast as they are washed, wring and shake 
them open, and put them into an old pillow case or white bag, 
else they will be liable to be torn by the weight of the larger 
articles when taken out of the boiling kettle. Some persons 
keep a large bag in which they boil all the white clothes to- 
gether; if the kettle is a nice one, so that there is no danger of 
iron mould, or any kind of stain, it is better to boil them with- 
out it. Use a wash-board for the large articles, and for those 
which are not easily made clean, and use more soap than for the 
fine things, taking special pains with places that are most soiled. 
All articles worn upon the person should be washed on both 
sides, and special pains taken with seams and hems. If there 
are streaks which you cannot entirely wash out, rub soap on 
them after you have wrung out the article ready for the boiling. 

Lay all the washed clothes together in an empty tub or the 
draining basket, until you have enough for the first boiling. 
Then dip out all the hot water from the kettle into a tub, and 
cover it over with a thick cloth, in order to keep it hot for wash- 
ing more clothes. Put a pail or two of cold water into the ket- 
tle, and a large spoonful of soft soap — more if the kettle is a 
large one. Shake open and lay in the clothes, and add enough 
more water to cover them. Do not crowd the boiler very full ; 








DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING, ETC. 231 


the clothes will not look as well, and beside, the water will be 
continually boiling over. Have a good fire, push the clothes 
down often with the stick, and let them boil steadily, half an 
hour. Set the draining basket upon a tub, with two or three 
strips of board laid across, to keep it up. A little frame, some- 
what like the cheese ladder used in a dairy, is more convenient. 
Place the tub near the boiler, and take out the clothes with the 
stick. When this is done, dip out part of the boiling suds, cover 
it, and set it aside to be used as occasion requires. Add cold 
water to the kettle, and put in more clothes. Continue wash- 
ing until all the white clothes are rubbed, remembering to dip 
out part of the dirty water from the tub now and then, and add 
some of the boiling suds which you have kept covered. When 
the clothes in the basket are well drained, put them into a tub 
of clean cold water, and take more clothes from the boiler into 
the draining basket. When all the white clothes are rubbed, 
and while the last of them are still boiling, get the second rins- 
ing water ready in the largest tub. (Some people have an idea 
that clothes look best rinsed in hard water, because rain-water 
is not so white as the other. But rain-water is the best, because 
it takes out the soap more thoroughly.) Fill the rinsing tub 
two thirds full of water, squeeze the blue-bag in it two or three 
times, and stir till the water is equally blue.* 

When you wring the clothes from the first rinsing-water, see 
whether the streaks you could not rub out have disappeared. 
If not, they can probably be removed quickly now. Wring 
the clothes dry, else the suds remaining in them will make the 
last rinsing water soapy. If the wash is large, dip off part of 


* To make a blueing-bag, take a very thick piece of cotton or a doubled 
piece, and stitch a close seam near the édge, on three sides, then turn it 
and stitch it round again; put in a piece of indigo as large as an egg, sew 
the end twice across, and. put onaloop. If it is slightly made, too much 
of the indigo will come out into the water. Keep it hung up where it will 
not become dusty. 

The Spanish indigo is best. It is hard, and of a rich deep color. Poor 
indigo breaks easily, and shows a slightly greenish tinge in the sunlight. 


2334 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


the water, when half of the clothes are wrung out, and add clean 
water, and a little more blueing. Strength, and some practice 
are necessary, to wring large articles dry, and the appearance 
of the clothes will but poorly pay for the labor bestowed, if this 


part of the work is not well done. Perhaps it is the most — 


fatiguing part of washing. The inventor of a good machine for 


wringing clothes will deserve and have, the thanks of many a, 4 


a toil-worn woman. 

When the white clothes are upon the line, take boiling suds 
and wash the coarse towels; boil them in a clean water, or in 
some of the last rinsing-water. Wash them thoroughly as the 
table-cloths ; not negligently because they are coarse. If the 
weather is wet, let the clothes lie in the rinsing-water till a 
fair day, but omit the blueing, as it will be apt to settle in 


streaks upon them; or some of the articles will be very blue, 


while others will not be so at all. If the weather threatens to 
be rainy, better not put them out, as they cannot be taken in 
half dry, and carried out while damp to be put on the line 
again, without getting more or less soiled. Ifthe wind is vio- 
lent, let them lie in the water even if it is fair (unless they can 
be hung up in an attic or wood-house chamber or in a yard 
sheltered from the wind), as the hems will very likely be 
snapped from the corners of the sheets and table-cloths, and all 
the clothes will be more worn (even if they are not torn) by 
being blown half a day, than by two months’ use from week to 
week. In the winter when they will freeze stiff in a few 
minutes, and there is a strong wind, they are liable to be torn. 
I have known a large and new table-cloth, cracked completely 
across, in a few minutes after being hung out.. Small and fine 
articles, like caps, collars, handkerchiefs, and baby’s dresses 
should be dried in the house in severe winter weather. Clothes 
are made very white by the night frosts, and where the yard is 
sheltered from the wind it is well to leave them out sometimes 
for that reason, provided there is no danger of their being 
stolen. 

When the last boiling is done, dip out all the water and save 








2 


DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING, ETC. 233 


it as before. Heat clean water for the flannels and other wool- 
lens. These should be washed in quite warm water with good 
soft soap. Bar-soap makes woollens hard and wiry. Wash 
the finest and most delicate articles first. If they are much 
soiled use considerable soap so as to get them clean quickly 
without much rubbing, for it is this which fulls up flannels, as 
we may know from the fact that it is by a similar process 
cloth is made thick at the fulling-mill. As fast as they are 
done throw them into a plenty of scalding water. If they lie in 
a pile until all are washed, they will shrink. When you can 
bear your hands in the water, wring them and throw them into 
another; from this last water wring them dry, snap them well, 
and hang them out. Few people rinse flannels twice, but they 
look enough better to pay for the trouble. If the soap is not 
rinsed out, they will shrink, and also become yellow. The 
water used for the white flannels is fit for the colored ones, and 
for mixed footings, or calicoes. All sorts of stockings should be 
washed first on the right side, and then upon the other. 

Red flannel preserves the color best, and is softest, washed 
in hard water. <A sailor’s red flannels, that have been, during a 
long voyage, often tied to a rope and towed through the waves, 
look better and feel softer than those washed at home. A word 
here in regard to the purchase of flannels, will not be out of 
place. It is the best economy to buy those made of soft wool. 
They will shrink very little, while coarse wool flannels will 
grow small and thick every week, and no pains-taking can pre- 
vent it. 

After hanging out the woollens, wash the calicoes in clean 
water, with hard soap, and rinse them twice. Have the 
starch* ready, and dip them before they are hung up. Calicoes 
should be thrown into the rinsing water as fast as they are 
washed. Even firm colors are injured by lying. If the weather 
is not fair leave them in the second rinsing, but put the light 
and dark ones into separate tubs, unless the colors are perfectly 


* To make starch, see page 240. 
20 * 


2 


234 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


fast. Put a little salt into the water. They will not be injured 
any more than white clothes, by lying in the water over night. 
Nice calicoes and ginghams should be dried in the shade, and so 
put upon the line as to dry quickly. Hang a dress in an angle 
of the line near the post, with the waist down; put one pin at 
the turn of the line, and one on each side, a few feet from the 
angle, so that the hem of the skirt will form a triangle. 
When the skirt is dry, except near the waist, shake open the 
waist and sleeves, and reverse the dress, pinning the shoulders 
to the line. : 

Calicoes should not be sprinkled till the morning of the day 
they are ironed. The colors sometimes run together when they 
are folded over night, and in very warm weather, the starch in 
a dress that is sprinkled in the evening will become sour by the 
next morning. In July and August, damp clothes that lie 
folded together two nights, are very liable to become mildewed. 
Care should be taken that soiled articles are not put aside in a 
damp state, during the week, for the next wash. Sad accidents 
have occurred through want of care in this particular. 

For the assistance of ladies who are not able to detect the 
reasons, if their clothes do not come from the laundry in good 
order, I will specify a few particulars as to the causes. 

If good water and soap are provided, and yet the white 
clothes look badly, it is owing to one, or possibly, all, of the fol- 
lowing things — their not being well assorted, the coarse clothes, 
and those most soiled being washed and boiled with the best 
ones ; or perhaps those places which required special care, had 
no more rubbing than other parts. If the seams of under- 
clothes are not clean, it is because they are not turned, after 
being washed on the right side, and well rubbed on the other. 
If the clothes look yellow, perhaps the washer uses too small a 
quantity of water, and neglects to dip off, often, that which is 
cool and dirty, and add more which is hot; and very likely too 
many are crowded into the boiler at once. If they are not 
wrung dry from the first rinsing-water, before being thrown 
into the second, they will be yellow; and lastly, if they are not 








DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING, ETC. 235 


well wrung out of the second, they will have soapy streaks in 
the gathers and hems. If spots of iron mould appear, perhaps 
the washer is not careful to avoid touching the clothes while 
wet, to the wire handles of the tubs or pails. If the calicoes 
fade more than you had reason to expect, very likely they are 
washed in boiling suds. The soft soap in it will spoil them ; 
and besides, it is never clean enough for nice calicoes. It is a 
good way to have calico dresses washed on some other day by 
themselves; it will be easier to have them done well. If the 
flannels are becoming dingy, it may be that they too are washed 
in the water in which the white clothes were boiled, and then 
rinsed but once. If they shrink, although made of fine wool, 
probably the soap is not all rinsed out, and that they were laid 
together in a pile, and became coll before they were thrown 
into scalding water. If they retain the wrinkles after being 
ironed, they were not well shaken out (or snapped) before being 
put out to dry. They should not be sprinkled; but if laid in 
the basket over night with the folded white clothes, they will 
be just damp enough to iron smooth. If the toes of the foot- 
ings, and woollen stockings feel stiff, they were not washed 
clean. ; 

Some domestics bestow great care upon the nicest articles, 
and take no pains with common ones. ‘This is neither neat or 
economical. All clothes that are both washed and ironed well, 
keep clean longest. 

There are some advantages in a lady’s taking the clothes 
from the bars, after they are ironed, herself. She sees at once 
whether they are well washed without the trouble of unfolding 
them to examine, and all those which need mending can then 
be most conveniently laid apart from the rest. I will only add 
to these minute directions, that the boiler should be left per- 
fectly dry, and the tubs, &c., rinsed and put away clean. It is 
good economy after the usual cleaning is done, to save all the 
suds to water the garden and trees. The good effects will soon 
reward the trouble. 


236 - THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


Starching, Ironing, and Polishing Gentlemen’s Linen. 


To make the Starch — Dissolve three table-spoonfuls of the 4 4 
best of starch in cold water, and stir it very fast into a quart of 
boiling water, and boil it half an hour. Five minutes before it _ 


is done, put in a piece of spermaceti the size of a large walnut, 


and stir until it is well mixed. Dip the linen as soon as you ~ 


can bear your hands in the starch, and see that every part is 
thoroughly wet, or you will have what are called blisters. Fold 


the collars in a dry towel. Fold the shirts through the middle 4 


up and down, so as to bring the two parts of the bosom together, 
that the starch may not get on any other part of the shirt. Let 
them lie over night. 

A bosom board is indispensable. Have a piece of board 
eight inches by eighteen; cover one side with three thicknesses 
of flannel; fasten it at the edges with small tacks. Then cover 


both sides with three thicknesses of cotton, sewed on tight and — P 


perfectly smooth. 

Iron a shirt completely (the bosom upon the side e the board 
where the flannel is), then hang it on the bars to air. After 
about an hour, lay the bosom on the hard side of the board, 
dip a soft towel in cold water, wring it dry, and brush the bosom 
until it looks a little damp. Then lay it upon the softest side 
and use the polishing iron quickly, pressing with all your 
strength. The polishing iron is very different from the common 
flat-iron, and far better for this use. It is.oblong, and rounded 
at each end. They are to be found at all the hardware stores, 
and are not expensive. If there is any roughness upon the 
iron, touch it when nearly hot with bees-wax tied up in a rag. 

A porcelain, or tin saucepan should be kept for making 
starch, and used for nothing else. The linen ironed by the 
lady who furnished these directions, was an ample recommend- 
ation of them. 


To wash Calicoes, the colors of which are not Fast. 
Pare and cut up a dozen or fifteen potatoes, and boil them in 
five or six quarts of water. Strain off the water through a hair 


5 - * a pr 
ee ee eee eee Se ee ee 











DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING, ETC. 237 


sieve, and when it is cool enough to put your hands in it, wash 
the dress without soap. The starch imparted to the water by 
the potatoes will cleanse it, and also make it stiff enough with- 
out other starch even after passing through the rinsing water. 
If there is green in the calico, dissolve a piece of alum half as 
large as an egg, in a pailful of water to rinse it. If there are 
grease spots upon a dress, a thread should be run around them 
before it is washed, so that those places may receive special 
care, else they will be as distinct as ever, after being ironed. 
If washing does not remove them, use chloric ether, or new 
spirits of turpentine. Some very nice managers use beef’s gall 
in washing calicoes to prevent their being faded. It is good for 
the purpose, but the odor is unpleasant, and will be perceptible 
when the dress is worn, unless it is used sparingly. A table- 
spoonful of the gall, to a pailful of suds is enough. Put what 
you do not use into a bottle, with a large table-spoonful of salt, 
and cork it tight. It is very useful in removing grease from 
woollens, and cleaning the collars of coats. 


To wash Mourning Calicoes, Muslins, and Lawns. 

Wash them in perfectly clean water; and if the color comes 
out, soak them until the water is clear, even if it should require 
two or three days, changing the water twice a day. <A black 
calico that parts with much of the dye in washing, will have 
rusty streaks in it, and look like an old thing, if it is dried with- 
out being soaked. But in the way directed, a dress of good 
quality can be done up many times without losing its beauty, as 
experience amply proves. Such dresses should not be sprinkled 
over night, before being ironed. 


To Wash, Starch, and Iron Muslins, Laces, etc. 

Soiled muslins should be looked over and mended before 
being washed. Embroidered articles should be basted in exact 
shape upon a piece of flannel or other soft cloth. The muslin 
will be less liable to be frayed or torn by the weight of the 
needlework. Common laces should be folded evenly together 


238 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


into many thicknesses, and then basted through and through 
around the edges, with a fine needle and thread. Soak these 
various articles in warm water with Castile or olive soap in it. 
After a few hours, or the next day, squeeze them dry (never 
rub or wring them) ; put on more soap, pour on hot water, and 
let them stand another day. Then squeeze them dry, and 
examine them. If they are not white, lay them loosely into a — 
-broad dish or platter, with warm suds in it, and set them in the 
sun a day or two; or, put them into a large white glass bottle, 
with a wide mouth, fill it with warm suds and set it in the sun. 
Turn the muslins over now and then, and also turn the bottle 
round, so as to give every side the benefit of the sun. This is 
a very good way where there is no grass-plot which can be used 
for bleaching. ‘There can be no better way of whitening mus- 
lins than to dip the articles in soap suds, spread them on clean 
grass and let them lie two or three days and nights, wetting 
them once or twice a day with suds. When you take them 
from the grass rinse them twice in a plenty of water, the last 
time with blueing in it. Squeeze them dry as possible, then dip 
all in fine starch, except those articles which should be very 
stiff, and they should be dried before being starched. Sort them, 
dip those which need most stiffness first, then add hot water 
enough to make the starch thinner for the next, and lastly still 
more, for dipping those which need very little stiffness. Hang 
them all out of doors to dry, unless the weather is cold enough 
to fréeze. When dry, sprinkle them very wet, or squeeze them 
in cold water, pull them out a little, and lay them two or three 
double in a sheet — a linen one if they are to be ironed in an 
hour or two; a cotton one if they are not to be done till the 
next day — this, because they keep damp much longer in cot- 
ton than in linen. ‘To wash elegant, expensive laces, sew a 
piece of white flannel closely around a common junk bottle, and 
wind the lace round and round perfectly smooth, and with a 
fine needle and thread, baste it enough to keep it in place. If 
the lace is pointed, pass the needle and thread through each 
point ; put the bottle into a jar or deep pitcher filled with warm 








DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING, ETC. 239 


suds. Change the water once a day for two or three days ; 
then put the bottle into the boiler with the finest white clothes 
on washing day; as soon as it is taken from the boiler, and 
cooled a little, rinse it again and again in a plenty of cold water, 
then wrap a soft, dry towel around it to press out the water, and. 
set tin the sun. When the lace has become entirely dry, take 
out all the threads, unwind it, and wear it without starching. 

Our grandmothers would have thought an elegant lace 
nearly spoilt by being washed in any other way than this, and a 
very nice way it is. Having once tried it, you will prefer to 
wash your laces yourself, rather than pay a French laundress 
for doing them not half as well. 

When you iron muslins, pull them gently into shape, fold and 
lay them on a plate, and cover them with a bowl, to keep the 
edges from getting too dry. Have clean irons, and rub each 
one before using it with a bit of wax or spermaceti tied up ina 
piece of cotton, and wipe it on aclean rag. This is to prevent 
the starch from sticking to the iron. Lay the muslin upon the 
ironing board, the wrong side up, and always move the iron in 
the direction of the threads. ‘The article will be out of shape, 
and look badly, if ironed diagonally. Bobbinet laces, if ironed 
at all, should be ironed diagonally, as in this way only can the 
mesh retain its shape. Dip them in stiff starch, and after dry- 
ing them, dip them again, then pin them out upon a bed. They 
will dry soon, and will need only to be folded even, and a warm 
iron set upon them to press the folds flat. Whether pressed or 
not they will look like new bobbinet, and this is a very‘convenient 
way when a lady is so situated that she cannot iron her own 
kerchiefs, or get them done to her liking by others. 

To iron lace or edging, carefully pull into shape the points or 
scollops, and pearling ; lay it the wrong side up with the wrought 
edge from you, pass the iron along the edge nearest you, and 
then, beginning at the right hand end, move it out from you. 
Do this the whole length or a yard at a time, then adjust every 
part even, and pass the iron over it again and again until it is 
dry. Lay every piece, as you finish it, upon a waiter or dish, 


240 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


so that you will not have occasion to. handle it again till you lay 
it in its place. 

Needlework should be ironed upon clean flannel, and be long 
enough under the iron to dry it, as it will look ill if laid away 
damp. 

Wrought collars, so much worn as to be easily torn by being 
washed, if they are not badly soiled, may be squeezed out of 
cold water, rolled in a dry cloth for a few minutes, and then 
ironed. The same may be done with plain muslins that are 
only tumbled. Sometimes it is convenient to be able to produce 
a clean collar in a few minutes. 

It is convenient to have a board expressly for ironing caps, 
collars, cuffs, laces, and other small articles. It should be about 
two feet long, a foot and a half wide, covered on one side with 
four or five thicknesses of cotton cloth sewed on tight and per- 
fectly smooth, and covered with white flannel. 


To make fine Starch. 

There is a great difference in the quality of starch. It is but 
labor lost to make use of that which is not good. ‘There is so 
much difference in the quantity of gluten in this article, that no 
precise measure can be given. ‘Those who are least expe- 
rienced will soon learn the proportion needed for any given 
number of articles. 

A small sauce-pan or porringer should be kept for boiling 
starch, and used for nothing else. Boil the water in the por- 
ringer, wet the starch smooth in a little cold water, and pour it 
in slowly, stirring steadily till it has become of equal thickness. 
Leave it to boil moderately eight or ten minutes. If starch is 
pure, and well made, it need not be strained. The leg of a fine 
cotton stocking makes a very good strainer. 


To make Flour Starch. 

Wet white flour smooth in cold water, and pour it into boil- 
ing water, just like the fine starch. Some people do not boil it ; 
others think dresses retain the stiffness longer if it is boiled. It 





a ee Eee” ee 








DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING, ETC. 241 


should be so made as to have no lumps in it, and if it is not, it 
should be strained through a fine colander. Allow a table- 
spoonful of flour, and nearly three pints of water for a dress. If 
there are several dresses and skirts to be dipped, divide the 
starch into two or three parcels, because the first article put into 
it will take too large a proportion of the stiffness, and leave 
what remains too thin for the rest. Reserve those which need 
least stiffness to be starched last. 


To Whiten or Bleach. 

The best time in the year is the month of May... The dew at 
that period has a peculiar efficacy for bleaching. In the country, 
where clean grass plots are accessible, it is a good way to take 
all the white clothes of the week’s wash, from the first rinsing 
water, or from the boiling suds, and lay them on the grass. 
After two or three nights take them up before they are dry in 
the morning, rinse them well, and put them on the line. Their 
improved appearance will pay for the trouble. In August, 
clothes should never be more than one day and night upon the 
grass, lest they become mildewed. In the winter, they will 
whiten fast, in sunny weather, upon clean snow; and leaving 
them on the line in the frost over night, after being washed 
makes them white. 


To wash Thibet Cloths, Bombazines, Mouslin de Laines, and 
Plaids, 


If you wish to make over a dress before it is badly worn or 
soiled, rip it, and sponge it in warm water with Castile soap in 
it. Sponge a piece at a time, on the side which is to be out, 
and iron it on the other side, until perfectly dry. The irons 
should be quite hot but not so as to change the color. If it is 
hung upon the bars or Jaid away, damp, it will curl and look 
old. 

Thibet cloths of good quality last so long that they are worth 
being done up twice. After doing good service, till parts of 
the waist and sleeves are worn out the dress should be ripped 

21 


ye ‘THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


and washed (sponging will not answer), and if it is of a color 
that fades at all, wash with it any new pieces that you may have 
to use in making it over. Wash it just as you would a nice 


flannel, with Castile or olive soap, and then rinse it in two clear 


warm waters. Remember not to wring it either time as it is 
almost impossible to iron out the wrinkles. Squeeze out the 
suds a little before you rinse it. Let it drip as it hangs upon 
the clothes line, for twenty minutes or half an hour ; and before 
the upper edge begins to dry, and while the lower edge is still 
wet, turn the lower edge up over the line, and the dry edge 
down, and let it hang a few minutes, then fold each piece, and 
lay them in a pile with a damp cloth round them. MHavea 
steady good fire, and several irons, and press them upon the 
wrong side until dry. — 

Bombazines if not badly soiled, can be sponged, in the same 
way as the Thibet cloths. If they are to be made up the same 
side out as before, sponge that side, and iron on the other. If 
they need to be washed, it is usually best that they should be 
made up the inside out, and of course should be ironed on what 
has been the right side. Wash them just like Thibet cloth. 
The black bombazines, and other similar fabrics worn in mourn- 
ing, all wash well, and can be done repeatedly, and each time 
look so well as to reward the trouble. 

Wash de laines and plaids in the same way. It is safe to use 
the genuine olive soap for those of the most beautiful colors ; 
they will remain unchanged. 


To wash Shawls. , 

Almost all kinds of shawls bear washing; and they should be 
done as the Thibet cloths and de laines, except that when there 
is much white in them, or they are composed chiefly of delicate 
colors, there should be a very little blueing in the last rinsing 
water, and after being fifteen minutes on the clothes line, they 
should be laid perfectly smooth into a sheet, which should then 
be folded up (not rolled, because that will make wrinkles), and 
as soon as the water is absorbed, so that the shawl remains only 








DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING, ETC. 243 


very damp, iron it on the wrong side, until it’ is dry, then fold 
it, making the creases as when it was new. 


To wash Colored, Plaid, Black, and Raw Silks and Ribbons. 

For a single dress, pare four or five good-sized potatoes, slice 
them thin and lay them in a quart of cold water for a few 
hours; then, if the silk is much soiled, sponge both sides freely, 
rubbing the soiled places with most care. Sponge one piece at 
a time, and iron it dry upon the side that is to be the inside, 
moving the iron up and down, or straight across —never diag- 
onally. Have the irons quite hot, yet not so as to scorch, or 
change the color. If they are too cool, they will draw up or 
crimp the silk in very minute gathers, and it will be nearly 
impossible to make such places smooth again. The effect of the 
starch from the potatoes is to cleanse the silk, and also give it a 
little stiffness, and even plaid silks of the most delicate colors 
are made to look new in this way. If a silk is not much soiled, 
sponge it only on what is to be the outside, and iron it on the 
other. A good black silk may be made to look “amaist as 
weel ’s the new,” again and again by this process, and those who 
have never tried it, would be surprised at the renovating effect. 

Good ribbons, black, white, or colored, are made fresh and 
handsome in precisely the same way. ‘To iron them, set the 
iron across one end, on the wrong side, and while -you press it 
hard, draw the whole length of the ribbon under it with the 
other hand. 

Raw silks should be washed in potato water, as directed for 
calicoes that are liable to fade; and after being rinsed once, and 
hung without wringing upon the line, long enough for the water 
to drip off, they should be rolled for fifteen minutes in a sheet, 
and then ironed dry, on the wrong side. 


To renovate black Veils and Lace. 

Make a very weak solution of gum arabic, so that it will 
barely be distinguishable from pure water ; lay the veil or lace 
upon an ironing, or other smooth board, and apply the gum- 


«4 


244 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


water with a sponge. See that the article to be sponged lies 
straight and even; and when you have wet it perfectly smooth, 
let it remain untouched till the next day. This is the way that 
ladies who embroider their own veils give them their finish. If 
the gum water is too thick, there will be danger of tearing the 
lace in taking it off. 


To renovate Velvet. 

Wet a clean sponge in warm soap suds, squeeze it very dry 
in a cloth, and wipe the velvet with it. Then pass the velvet 
over the edge of a hot iron, turned down side-ways — the wrong 
side of it next to the iron. | 

Another very good way is to hold the velvet in the steam of 
boiling water, and then pass it over the edge of an iron. 


To wash English Blankets. 

If care is taken to keep them clean, they will seldom need to 
be washed. New ones.ought not to need washing for several 
years. Those which are not in constant use, should be kept 
where they will not be exposed to moths or dust, in a closet, 
pinned close in a cloth, or under a mattress. A chamber-maid 
or a domestic who does the general house-work, should keep a 
large apron to be worn only while she makes beds. Blankets, 
counterpanes, and even bed-ticks sometimes have to be washed 
in consequence of negligence on this point. 

If there are soiled spots on a blanket, baste a thread around 
them, or else wash those places before it is put into the tub. 
Then put a handful of soft soap into the water, and begin to rub 
at one end of the blanket, using more soap, and slipping it along 
as fast as it is washed, from one end to the other; and as it is 
not possible to rub the whole width of a large blanket at once, 
— after it is washed along one side, taking it up to the middle, 
wash along the other side, just as in washing sheets. It takes 
two persons to wring a blanket or counterpane well. Have 
ready a large tub of as hot water as you can bear your hands 
in and put them as soon as they are washed into it; rinse them 








DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING, ETC. 245 


in this, and still in another warm water; and after wringing 
them dry as possible, have the person who assists you take one 
end, and taking the other yourself, open and snap them several 
times. This will take out the wrinkles, so that if the day is fair 
with a good breeze, the blankets will look almost as smooth as 
if they were pressed. If there are several to be washed, cover 
the rinsing tubs, so as to keep the water warm, and have some 
hot water ready to add, when that in the tubs becomes cool. 


To wash white Counterpanes and Calico Quilts. 

Wash them in the same way as blankets only with hard soap, 
and rinse them in cold water. If convenient, it is the best way 
to take them to a pump; and pump upon them and pour off the 
water again and again, till it is clear; then wring them and 
hang them on the line. In this way one wringing is saved, 
which is well, for'it is some of the hardest work that is done. 
The heaviest kind of counterpanes, especially if they are large, 
should be rinsed at a pump, and taken in the tub to the clothes 
’ line, and put upon it without wringing. 


To wash the Tick of a Feather-bed, or Pillow. 

Have it washed very thoroughly and rinsed in a plenty of 
water. When it is entirely dry, melt together bar soap and 
beeswax in the proportion of two parts soap, and one of wax. 
Mix it well, and then, having laid the tick, inside out, upon a 
large table or ironing board, spread the soap and wax on it with 
a knife, as thinly as possible, Even a thick tick, when it is 
washed, does not hold the feathers as securely as before, and the 
use of this mixture is to remedy the defect. 

The odor of the soap soon passes away. 


To wash Worsted Table-covers. 

Wash them in quite warm water with olive soap. If this is 
not to be had, soft soap, if it is of the best kind, is better than 
common bar soap. ‘This last, always has rosin in it, and some- 
times there is so much as to make woollens washed with it feel 


246 THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER’S FRIEND. 


gummy ; and no pains-taking will entirely remove the bad effect. 
If there, are grease spots, they should be first taken out with 
chloric ether or spirits of turpentine. Make a suds, wash the cloth 
very thoroughly in it, and then in another; then rinse it twice in 
warm water. Do not wring it when you put it from one water 
into another, but drain it, and very gently press the water out. 
Hang it a short time upon the line, until the water has almost 
ceased dripping from the lower edge; then reverse it, putting 
the lower edge up on the line. Have the irons hot, and the 
ironing-board ready, and make up your mind to iron patiently a 
long time. A medium-sized broadcloth table cover, such as 
used to be in fashion, required to be ironed two hours and a 
half. A less time is necessary for the thinner fabrics; but 
whatever the texture is, if it has wool in it, it must be pressed 
until it is dry, else it will not look well. Faded table-covers, 
having one color only, mingled with white, may be dyed with 
advantage. I have seen one that was originally green and 
white, that after being in constant use many years, was sent to 
a dye-house, and came back transformed into a maroon and 
white cloth, and was as good as when it was new. 


To wash Carpets. 

According to the experience of many persons, the Kidder- 
minster carpets, and others of like fabric, are as well washed at 
a fulling-mill as at a dye-house, or by a professed carpet- 
cleanser. They are washed whole, and if the colors are good, 
they are returned with a good degree of their original beauty ; 
and I have never known one to be torn or injured in any way. 
The charge for washing a, large carpet, does not exceed a dollar 
and a quarter, and for medium-sized and small ones, proportion- 
ately less. After a carpet has been in hard service, if it is 
worth being made over, or thoroughly repaired, it is also 
worth being washed ; and a person who has spent two or three 
days in mending an old, unwashed carpet, will appreciate the 
assertion. 

The directions for removing oil and grease from carpets not 


— a. ge 








DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING, ETC. 247 


having been inserted in the appropriate place, they are given 
here. 

When oil is spilled on a carpet, put on a plenty of white flour, 
and do it as quickly as possible, in order to prevent it from 
spreading. If the oil is near a seam, but does not reach it, rip 
the seam in order to stop it. Put flour on the floor under the 
oil spot. The next day take up all the flour from the car- 
pet and floor, with a dust-pan and a very stiff clothes broom, 
and put on fresh flour, and a plenty of it. It will not be neces- 
sary to do it a third time. To take out grease spots, rub them 
with a bit of white flannel, dipped in new spirits of turpentine ; 
and if they again become visible, rub the spots again, on both 
sides of the carpet, when it is taken up and shaken. If there 
are oil or grease spots on the floor, they should be covered with 
thick paper before the carpet is again laid down. Scouring 
will not entirely remove them. 








GENERAL INDEX. 


Ants. e . > ° . ° 
Arrow-root Gruel eae A 
Articles, Various, to keep 
Apple Island. * 4). > 

STA nies ele 
“¢ Sauce, common family . 
6 J Boiled cider . . 
geo VT 8 ns Nae 
Apples Steamed, Sweet. Uh x 
eet 
ps c OUP ae is 36 
os Coddled .. 


ts Dried, or Peaches, stewed 


Ashes, Sawdust, &c., use to be 


7 ret Gils thames os 
sparazus Sree 
a and Eggs ews es 


Barley Water... . as. 
Bass;Baked . «ss 2 + x 
Beef, to roast . é ‘ 
Sai Fe: use remnants af. : 
sen a boiled 
4 Stent i, ca 
o “& to heat over . ate 
c on a 
« “Pee Lomato: -. i. 
45 Alamode, i in a plain way 
“ more rich .. 
“ Stewed Brisket of . 
“Corned, to boil . . 
“ Smoked Frizzled 
J “ toshave .. 


Tea 
Beans and Pork, “baked « 
Pe HOGG eos 
~ Siting . . 
Beer, ee Ginger « : 
Maple . . eer 
“¢ Spring . 
“Spruce and Boneset 


e@° @ @& Os 6. e. Cent eo 


ot" 8 og. “& * SS se 


Page 
Beets, boiled. . . « « « « . 117 
Biscuit, raised . “Yes Oe 
“ ’ Buttermilk... . 83 
Ho Orear . og a poe 
“ Cream of Tartar . . . 34 
Se BIER Sig ia tare awe OL, 
Blanc-mange, Arrow-root . . . 92 
Calfs Foot . . 92 
- Gelatine duels «98 
os Isinglass . . . . 92 
Ga 8 5) oe Age hii 93 
Bleach, to, or Whiten. . . . . 241 
Bread, "good family . , a 2G 
«’ made without a Sponge . 28 
¥ “ ~with milk . rbeent 
e ie “water. ee 4: 
Pet RG yin psy. wong oe 50 
A Rice ° e e e e . e e 29 
6 Third e e e . e . . . 29 
oo MATARAIN) oe) a gl oe es 80 
os be one loaf. .. . 80 
“ Boston Brown. . 30 
eo) pteamed 1. yt 81 
Indian Loaf... . 3l 
oH 2 RYO 32 
“ to make stale fresh . 32 

“ dough, various convenient 
uses of. . . oh ei eee 
“¢ uses for pieces 7 Ap ate 17" 
Brawn. . . 189 
Brine, a good, for keeping butter 202 
Broth, Lamb. . «ws 160 
Mutton 4) . 150 
Pode VOOL. fee at a" Oa ow! os, ADO 
ROPULIOS, Gy hye ee we Bk . 194 
Butter, Drawn . - 124 
“to keep sweet ayear . . 203 
Cabbage oss. eis) « ee fe! 
Cake, Barnard . . . . - 49 
ey TOME. eb eile) wes 48 


250 GENERAL INDEX. 


* 


Cake, Berwick (Sponge) . . . 51| Cologne Water... ... . 215 
“ Bridgeport . - « « 49) Corn Cake . oe een oO ae 
“Brooklyn (Sponge) o.6 » 61) “ -Oysters (lee ee 
«Commencement ... . 47| “: Soup. 2 <i. eee 
‘© Composition . ... . 49} “ Boiled... oy 
Oren oe Sa soo OSI eae (Succotash) owe dee 
“- Federal . . » . . « « 52} Crackers, Litchfield 3. eae 
“ Gold : Be ee rid: ie a Ary tee pete 
c ets Rs all te rumb Cakes. . 4.3) 9) seen ee 
“ etibige te é 54] Cream, Syrupof ..... . 186 
“Jelly (or Washington Pie) . 53 5 ie raiseathick . . . . 186 
6 e e e e e 54 ce ° ° e e e . es e 
eS) ae xe of i glen ae anne Imperial | 3.0550 2 eee of 
s Lyman (Sponge) . 35. Seg baer Snow’). live) penis eee 
“ Mount Pleasant . : 49). %+ « Cakes: (eee 
“Measure (Sponge) . ... 51} Crallerss5) sis + eee ibe Oe 
Plumb, Maine «°°. 72 46 “Cream of Tartar. . . 60 
HE “« one loaf, Pleines . 46) Crust Coffee. . 5. «<2 5 5 280 
Me OUNG canyon . . . 54] Cucumbers oi Sg et au eae ae ae 
“Provence .... . . 49} Currant ee nr her eet 
se : e ry e e ° e e ce i ° e e ° e e ° 21 
< Rene : Aaah: fete ee Bd Custards, ‘Alien a SEH eo aS Py 
“ Snow or Bride’s . . . . 52 _ oe é Gal cere ee 
oe ° e e oO e e e e e e 96 
Me and a Oia bee . 19 a Wine oo SAU etaneet sane 
“ Tunbridge ek eee 
i, Washington. . . . . . 46] Draught, refreshing in afever. . 210 

Weddin + + + + + 45) Drop Cakes sis) = 0.15 < Game ot 
« White Mountain . 2 2: 53 Rye i) Seen, eee 

Carrots. . . . . . . « « « 176) Doughnuts, riicele ; she BS 

ee. x qc eah iy Beal aia ae Dumplings, Apple, Boiled ay es 8% 
u e ° ry e ° e ° ° ° ake . . ‘ 8 

ees COREY: ste ee ie ; “ Steamed . . 87 
ca Foot Brothas.) va RO Ducks, to fovrretii ee ae 
‘© Head and Feet, to cleanse . 217 boil x0 “08 52 eae ae 

Catsup, Tomato. . . . 170 

ees Ie Ree a Permanent . ats Earthen ware, to ese being 

Chicken Broth .. . . . . . 206 broken ae +: “aot tt eee 

Gi “Parada 206 Egg Plant-.s 7s (opens oe eee 

& Pig Soe a ge eS Eggs, to keep ree at, © oe 

GS hight! casa er aan ickled (6°. + osu auyeeeenoe 

iM rede Me ks " 206 A Oiled |. 4 ue sale ee 
Chickens to roast... s+ - 142) « dropp eds... 5 152 
eT Tot 143 fried +3 ee ee 

e broil apmaltga a : “ poached . Motes bt 


“ to beat the whites of. . ee 


ve Fricassee 


Chocolate, tomake .. ; 
Cider, to. boila.is of bees . 215| Farina. . Pe eS 
Clams 6 55 eo die ie) 60m ee MHLOE |e Oe Ole Drippings, care of. . . 195 
Cookies . 56 | Feathers, to remove the bad odor 
Cockroaches and Beetles, to kill. '217| «from. s 4» o:)eelaennn 
Cocoanut Drops .. - « »« »57| Figs, Tomato 5.) 4) ene 
COCO «site at be ae dah ate wees Fish, Cod, to boil . . ...% 1164 
iC” Ground Whieaigs vee eG Sounds and Tongues . 154 
Coffee, to roast! Ss 7.) ance fe eth. 198 Paes ‘“ or Blackfish, baked . 155 
MAKE 6) 4, 8 ce Pd bois Gir hs “ to fry 2 eee 
4 milk... «se + 2 S85)“ “ Chowder si. sapeconeoe 
“ Crust ° e e e e . e e 210 66 ae Salt, to boil e e e e 156 


Cre. 2-9 FT ‘8 wa 
° 
— 
= 
oo 








GENERAL INDEX. 


Fish, Cod, Salt, minced. . . . 157 
Pipa ete, se 157 
Flat-Irons, to remove Starch or 
UT 3) a - 221 
Floating co) Ee aan 
Flummery, Ground Rice 
se Potato Starch . 
Food for a young Infant . 
“ for an Infant at successive 


periods. . - 211 
“ for a Child just weaned. . 211 
Froth, Stained . . 5, ee 99 


Fruit, to Preserve, in water 112 
gumbles...:.. . ame § 

eter TCGR S.-M pet 

“ stains, to take out . 220 
Fritters or Pancakes. . . . . 40 
a Snow . . . 40 
Frosting 44, 46 


Frying Cakes, ya : 
Furniture, to remove spots from . 222 


Gingerbread, hard sugar of Ot 

> soft sugar tae oj 57 

a soft, without eags 58 

ae Molasses, hard 59 

a Molasses, soft . 58 
Ginger EWACHOME 9. 40. 6. 

PSnaps . . 58 
Glass ware, to prevent being b bro- 

Kens ae - 221 

Goose, to Menstie e. - 145 

Gravel walks, to destroy grass in 224 

Grease, to take out . . 220 

“to remove, from carpets . 246 

Greens, toboil . . . . 178 

Griddle Cakes, white flour raised. 38 
Butter-milk or Sour 

sui Ss) 38 

* “ without an ees: - 89 

‘ “ Indian Meal . « 89 

i Cl aoe 89 

sa “Rice, ground. 39 

bi “* Buckwheat . 39 


SECUMMOMESE iis ys 3. 211 
) eesow-rook . «3. s . 207 


Se” Oatmeal... . 208 
* Ground Rice = 208 
‘ Indian Meal. . . 208 
Ham or Shoulder, to Bo or ee 137 
eto fry . . 138 
J 0G) 504 Sr miss 
“ Pickle for one . 164 
Hams, to cure . 164 


i, fo, keep, through t the Sum- 


mer . - 165 
3 Knickerbocker, pickle for, 
or for beef . . - 165 


Halibut, boiled or broiled > 157 


251 


mead Cheosa. 2s 62 
Herb drinks . . . Sa 
House Plants, to prepare earth 


e 190 
- 210 


for. - 223 
Hyacinths, to raise, in winter. . 224 
DCO ADTICOS foe Me a 8 eT 

SE PORINAs” .Niatutae cake) weet 

rae 3 9 9 |) Sr Sees ee gta 98 
«Lemon: ~. 98 
“ Strawberry or Raspberry « £8 
Infant, Food for. . . . 210 
‘¢ for, at successive pe- 
riods . . - 211 
Ss “ for a child just 
weaned . - 211 
Ink, to take ouf. 2. . 2. . 220 
Indelible, to make . . 216 
Iron Ware, to prevent being bro- 

ken . ee . 221 
Iron mould, to take out. . . 219 
Jam, Apple . . . . 109 

ot PAG aie iTe - 109 

“ Pine Apple - 109 

“ Quince. . 109 

«Raspberry - 110 

“Strawberry . on 0 
Jelly, Appie. . 110, 111 

Barverry cog) bs warty Bi 
ese Call's fooho sis. o etre eee 

Arab: APPle eas, *s eae dae 

Mier EAR DONT aa se fg se A bk 

“ Currant . 111 

‘¢ ~—- Currant, without boiling 112 

“English ’Gelatine . 94 

SrA Nutritions.~ 3h 61. 208 

se OWING «6 112 
Kisses . . 56 
Knife handles, Ivory, to prevent 

being cracked 22 


Knives, to preserve from rust. . 222 


Lamb pboilediet ve on egies 
x steaks . ithe 
ee TOASto was : 


Me stewed or Alamode Aes ae 


PACO. LO UE Pat aian eels 166 
Lemon Syrup Bante ® tated 4 ¥ 

i: “« ~ without Lemons 212 
Lind, Jenny . . ear eae 
Lobster in the simplest way 160 

“Salad 160 

‘Stewed . 160 
Lunn, Sally . 35 
Macaroni. . Mere sh! 
Mackerel, to prepare to broil . . 162 
Mahogany Furniture, to polish . 223 


252 GENERAL INDEX. 


Marmalade, Quince . . «. . . 108) Pickled Peppers «. . =. . ss 182 
Sweet Apple . . . 115 “« Butternnts sess se 28 
Milk Porridge ois... o7s0h.'8 ‘ie ce BOT «. Martinigg: sien gee ee 
He LOWBG.: ee a a Care ee - 194 ‘¢ Tomatoes. . - . ~ «170 
Mildew, totake out .. . . 219 ‘¢ Peaches, Plums, Cherries, 
Mortar, to reniove from windows 222 or Tomatoes 5. 4a) -a/-488 
Moths, to secure woollens, furs, Pie Crust, good common .. . 65 
furniture, &c., from .217| ‘“ “ breaddough. .. . 65 
wi POUISELL eo oe BLD By aaa Sea ea 
Mould, Iron, to take out. . . . 219 Pies, Apple, stewed . ohn (ie. CS 
Moulding, to prevent books, ink, without an upper- 
Sots TEOMA Red. et we Aire fe eee ernst 5. ‘ 65 


Mullins, Taised ves els ele Se ee “  ofuncooked . . . 66 
as SOUL MH oles ie "ay Bae ee hi sweetened with mo- 
a Cream of Tartar . . . 387 lasses) ae 6o 


Mushroonis:.. tosis es oe Pe “dried its vive, « E16 
Mutton, to roast. 6 is ws 180 Berry ee we? OF 
sf  HteakS 2 oy 6 oe 4 18010" Cherry oes ee eA OF 

* Chicken °w .. sane . 144 

Oil, to take out, from carpets. . 246| “ Cranberry. ; » 67 
Omelets . . . .. ~~ . . 152] “ Currant and Gooseberry « ht 


OBIONS iS vars eae Aten oe we kare Lae ME retina Pogtady ded le 








OVvOn8 se a Pat ae ee ee Mince, rich, \s ws Pat ek; 
Oyater PO ua Se tpl se sae notasrich . . . . 68 
Rhos LAN <a ig «LE e Temperance oie es ee 


Oysters in the simplest way «ihe LOS o: very plain: sx ists; Oe 

LER aS 4 pt hw’ hy ae? ee ea “ without Suet... 69 
“ BOKIG gig) i) we DO “without is je hin SO 
ealeette o + ee whbO) a4 Oyster sees a fe pias Oe 
. stewed so. ee a es 160 | Peneh reine 
Core 6 aw oe oe a 180 [Pigeon eee ee 


“ Rhubarb . . = CR ane ae 

Panada. . . ¢ eee ee) «OS Ee” Squmannae Pumpkin. iy We ray ae 
“Chicken . . . . . .206| “ Veal DOE! a Seite bie kaon 
Pan-Cakes or Fritters . . » 40} > “) Dakeds: ic teense eee 
Pan Pig a 192, 193 | Pigeons, toroast. . . . . . » 145 
Paint, to clean, with Pumice-stone 222 «in disguise... 2 - «140 
‘to remove, from windows . 222} Pone, Sweet Potato wits « 80 


“fresh, to take out. . . . 220| Potato balls . . . . oe 
Paper hangings, toclean . . . 223] Potatoes,toboil. . .., . . 171 


Parsloy, to Keep .J6) «a a te ee " mashed a oo 
Mayenne’: p< iy By nde ES - fried (). oP pa) ee 
Partridges, to rodak baa. OLAS “ heated in milk. . 173 
fo Boik eas Meru eee Old xiii oe a nae eke 
Pears: baked a a. 3: ea ak woke Sweet . ao eek teoee 
Be? holed ey) ts hi eat ala Sec Preserved Apples. ee hee 
Pearl Sago and Tapioca . ¥iv'et, B25 OS * Craborcdu tenia, oe aaua 
3 a ee Prarie rs | Ag «Pines 2 Garoe F308 
Pig, toroast. . se transla Se * - “* without boil- 
Plated and Silver ware, to clean . 222 ing. . . 103 
Plants, House, to prepare earth for 226 ae Blackberries . . «. « 103 
Pork, a shoulder, to roast or corn 136 a Cranberries . . . . 104 
fo Bteaks «26 rs Fs, * Currants. oe »« 204 
‘¢  Spare-rib or Chine . . . 136 ds Damsons ... « «104 
re Salt, to ity) ..\./tenas ene be Egg Plums. . . - « 105 
Pickled Cucumbers . . . . . 180 as Peaches).): s,s eeierenane ‘ 
hy Mangoes. | bel hs orwn tate cen s Pea?sao isis et of eee 
SE SP CROBE EO. Ligh resign oe x Quinces. i. - 106 
ses Nastortinums is os6 is) jeucackee “ «with Sweet Ap- 


At Regia ici ai Lame aes ple. 4s Vee AOR 





GENERAL INDEX. 


Preserved esting without boil- 
ingthe Syrup. . . 107 


ss Strawberries . - - 108 

ue Tomatoes. . - « .~ 168 
Pudding, Hasty Mrbty surg) iw AOL 
v6 «fried ie hee 

- Sauce, elegant. . . . 74 
sid  piainer: © 5 «2 4 


se “id ag ay ne Fe 
Lo Re of Sourcream . 74 
Puddings, ree A eager 


Ws s ; 

a a (Marlborough) erage 
u& “ (Pemberton) . 75 
* Batter, baked. . . 76 
rf “boiled or steamed 76 
4g RYO =» as ¥ 
"i Bird's 0 eater 77 


ie Bread .. ear ws 
es Bread and Butter note. P46 
ae, Cocoanut . Tage ee fs) 
ig Peeeecee se el lee 78 
xi Cracker, s°. . « 78,79 
ae Farina . . we aS fake A 
bi Potato . . Be at TD 
< 4) Sweet . ag >: 80 
Ceeeeniiy: 4. . . 80,81 
- Rice. . * heures 3 f 
* “ White top iy ae ee. | 
ee * Ground pl Aa ST oT 
- Sago. . ea ee 
i Sauesh or Pumpkin . 82 
s mopetna ss ss 88 
Puddings without Be 


Pudding, Berry. ‘ Sr eae ie | 
Indian, baked. . . . 84 

“« — withsweet are 84 

vi Plum, boiled . . . 85 

* memond’s = . .« . . 85 
aa 

* etc as 5 3} 8B 

2 Deeeew. = 4... « 686 


yi er 86 
Puff Paste, rich. . . 64 
Per quainer . 64 

Puffs Ser ee ee 


Raspberry Vinegar ... . . 213 
Rennet Whey 4 Bites Cee e408 
MTOM Ve sk tl BIG 
POO 5 4 + fs os 190 
Roley Poley . . 88 
Rose Butter (a good substitute for 
eewneTy 2s 6 lw eww B16 
Roses, Soot Teafor . . . . . 224 
Rusk .. ae ef 3 
Rye Drop erent. . 4 yl gs 


RRDDIO§ 5. 6 es 4 90 


253 


RG ed We ra Ow) Sg ee os ATE 
Salmon, TODO or a a ee we 

* Broil-<.: \. o @ 0 Ab8 
Salsify, or Oyster Plant . - 177 


Salt Meat and Vegetables, boiled 


together . Pe cree ieee! | 
Sarsaparilla Mead. a icue S18 
Sausages, tomake. . . . - 165 
= ry. . 187 
Shad, Fresh, to broil . . 158 
10 salt, to keep a year . 166 

 - Balt, to ree to broil. . 158 
u Potted . oils - © 161 
Shells . 186 
Silver or Plated Ware, to clean . 223 
Sink or Drain, to purify . - 219 
Smelts. . . . 162 
Soap, to make with ashes - 197 
" ee potash. 6. 487 

A BOWES a Pa ew a eee 
Soup, arich. . ee ee a SV! 
«“"’ Roast Beef Bone . . . . 148 
Dale ORs ie ate ele ES 
‘Mock Turtle Baioe ei LAD 
Be) OER ig oe ae ey ee 
ae of NOES ee 5! he jo . 148 


Py EER OP a oe hig wp 
“ White. . e e e ° e ° 


- 149 


149 


WN BRCTADIO: ath a sie e150 
ek Cay Aer peer eee eee es EY 
Oi AAR Aas ge 4 OSS = 179 
SOUss go wrk a) ea . 190 
Spinage ‘ ‘ . 178 
Squash, Summer . ~ 177 
i Winter. oe vt 


Stains, Fruit, to take out - . 220 
Starch, to take off, from flat-irons 221 
6 Fine, to make 2s . 240 
as Flour, to make . 240 


Starching, Ironing, and Polishing 
Gentlemen’s Linen . ‘ 
Stoves, to remove Rust from . 


. 221 


Buiccorasht tres Ca bl eee) oO 
Suet, to keep. . 216 
Syrup of Cream . 186 
Syrup, to make, for Preserves . 101 
Tapioca, Boiled. 90 

“4 Pudding . . 838 
TAR sox dundee . 184 
Tooth Powder... . . . 216 
OROG OW AteE sat ee. we . 210 


Tomato Catsups. 20. we 


170 


sb PACKS Mitte ban let . 169 

st MUGS ike Ne ah lan ta . 165 
Tomatoes, ‘baked : . 167 
Broiede s ee aw Bs 

+ like Cucumbers Sel aS 

‘ preserved . . 168 

Ke stewed . . 167 


954 GENERAL INDEX. 


Tomatoes, stewed to keep a year 169, Wash, to, Mourns calicoes, Mus- 
. pickled. . . . 170,188 lins, and Lawns. . . 287 


Tongue, stewed « 167|  * Starch, and Iron Muslins, 


EPOWb) eo ecus tg Oe Thats Oe OR Laces, &6. 5 «i 
Turkey, to inst q's 2s fare ie aru Thibet "Cloths, Bomba- 

fe TODOE ch 5 7's) arog Pee aR zines, Mouslin de 

i  xBoup” o) Stee. ha waeo Laines, and Plaids. . 241 
farpips, mashed”... 3% t\-.\aee Shawls . . «+ « 242 


te Colored, Black, Plaid, 





Veal, to roast a Filleb 0 jes 18h and Raw Silks and 
Lott cs ie Sar 482 Ribbons . . . s . 248 
Ke Pot Pie A eis Ce ee English Blankets . . . 244 
Me Pie, baked oe sos . 188)" White Counterpanes and 
“6s Stewed, breast. . . . . 188 Calico Quilts. . . 245 
CF). o Outlets,” oo). 2 ee ee The Tick of a Feather- 
Broiled.) Gis Sie noe bed or Pillow . . . 245 
“Minced « “. «| ah ope eo Worsted Table-covers . 245 
“Cake, or Melton «AB Catpets iss es & Ve 246 
Vegetables ‘and ey Meat boiled ae to purify 2% = Se ye 
together... oehin, eat shee higs ges tee eer OS 
Venison .. + ap we ede OR Whigen or Bleach, to anes Al 
Velvet, to renovate . . . . . 244| Wine Whey «<2! a 4-% ee aes, SUF 
Veils and Lace, torenovate . . 243) “ Custard . ‘ «ee ao 
Woodcocks, Quails, and other 
Wafers... . . « « « « is « 66] “small birday sc) eee encom 
Waffles. . . « + « 's «© »:» 86] Yeast, Sof iop gues eee 
Wash, fous 20 ae sO at 5 8 ee err = 5 ld he Tee ee 
a Calicoes, the colors of “ Potato Hop. +: eittey baaberes oO 


which are not fast. . 286 


Pn a ST a ra rt I ie a ae a a al 























